Most Wanted: Peter Pettigrew
by BlightPhoenix
Summary: Harry is fed up with the lies of the ministry, the slander of the prophet and the inaction of everyone around him in the face of Voldemort's return. After careful thinking he has come to a conclusion: find Peter Pettigrew and you find the truth. Hence Harry puts a 100,000 Galleon reward on Peter's head and watches as the entire magical community goes mad in the race to find him.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer- Harry Potter and its respective characters belong to J.K. Rowling.

Authors Note- So this is my first try at fan fiction, I've been on the site for long enough and thought that maybe I should contribute to it for once. This is a plot of my own invention, based on the idea that Harry got tired of waiting for something to happen at the beginning of OOTP and decided to do something about it instead. I've planned this entire story in full and plan to update it once a week, which may turn into once every two weeks when I resume Uni but I'm optimistic that won't be the case!

 _Harry is fed up with the lies of the ministry, the slander of the prophet and the inaction of everyone around him in the face of Voldemort's return. After careful thinking he has come to a conclusion: find Peter Pettigrew and you find the truth. Hence Harry puts a 100,000 Galleon reward on Peter's head and watches as the entire magical community goes mad in the race to find him._

 **Most Wanted: Peter Pettigrew**

 **30th July 1995**

– **7pm, Surrey**

Harry was wondering how he got to this point in his life.

Here he was, crouching outside his Uncle's living room, trying to desperately get any news about the outside world. His friends had been useless; full of excuses and false cheer that made Harry's teeth grate in anger. _"I'll tell you about it later!"_ Surely he was entitled to a little knowledge by now, after everything that he had been through and accomplished; he had faced Voldemort four times now and survived each encounter.

Recently his mood had soured immeasurably towards Dumbledore and his friends. What were they doing? He had heard of nothing, had seen no trace of any action in the Daily Prophet. He had noticed of course the bullshit the Prophet had been printing about him and Dumbledore, and had read about Dumbledore's recent dismissal as head of the ICW last week. But oh no! He shouldn't worry! They had it all sorted apparently, if the letters he received were anything to go by the war was already half won!

'-And now back to Mike Gordon with the latest updates on England's performance in-'

Harry slumped down in disappointment, groaning in frustration; if they were onto sports now there was nothing else of interest to be gleaned from listening to the news. Scowling he pushed himself up and went back to his room, slamming his door on the way to vent his frustration. Restraining the current urge he held to scream (he could only imagine how well that would go down with his Aunt and Uncle; their poor, crazy, no-good nephew had finally lost it) he viciously opened his trunk and pulled out his homework. A distraction seemed like a good idea at the moment. Hedwig hooted at him reproachfully as his copy of "Travels with Trolls" was flung violently across the room, as Harry turned to glare at his owl.

'What? It's not my fault you're not doing anything useful this summer,' Harry muttered viciously as he threw another one of Lockhart's books onto the floor. 'Maybe if you brought me good news once in a while I wouldn't be in this mess!'

Harry knew he was being unfair to Hedwig; after all it wasn't her fault that he was being boycotted by all of his friends. But right now he needed to vent, and since everyone else was apparently content to leave Harry steaming in his room, alone with no contact this was all he could do. Flashes of graveyards and Cedric's body replaying over and over and-Harry shook his head, desperately trying to think of anything else other then Cedric.

He had been responsible for his death; all the reassurances of his friends and Sirius could not dissuade him from this conclusion. Harry had been the one who had stopped Sirius and Remus from killing him in his third year, out of some misguided sense of honour that Harry had at the time. The graveyard replayed in his mind and all Harry could focus on was the coldness in which Peter had murdered Cedric; no hesitation, no thoughts whatsoever about what he was doing-was he so casual in giving Voldemort the location of his parents as well?

Peter Pettigrew deserved to die.

 _Does he really deserve death?_ A voice that vaguely reminded him of Dumbledore echoed in his mind and Harry's answer was blunt.

Yes.

He was the man who was responsible for his parent's murders. The same man who murdered twelve people, betraying Sirius and sending him to hell on Earth. The same man who condemned Remus to thirteen years of loneliness, who after all that, continued to ruin his life by depriving Harry of the opportunity to grow up around people who might have loved him. The same man who had cut Harry's arm open, resurrecting Voldemort and murdering someone who Harry considered to be a friend. Pettigrew probably killed more, Harry thought darkly, after all he was a death eater; how many people had he murdered in group attacks? How many more had he betrayed to Voldemort?

A loud hoot from Hedwig startled Harry out of his thoughts and he fought to keep concentrated on his textbook and not on all the ways he wanted to murder Peter Pettigrew. Sighing he opening his copy of "A History of Magic" to the section on Goblin Rebellions, dipping his quill into his inkwell. He did have to complete a 20-inch essay on the ramifications of Goblin rebellions in the 18th Century anyway, and what better way to distract himself then with his most boring of subjects? Harry's eyes flickered to Hedwig, who ruffled her wings and turned away from him, making him scowl down at his paper in determination. After this paper he was going to send a short, vindictive, and vague letter to everyone that he knew so that they could all understand what he was feeling at the moment. Spurred on by this bitterness he began reading.

 _Urg the Unclean is regarded today as one of the most important figureheads of the Goblin rights movement, following Tugog Logburner who instigated the 1612 Rebellion of Hogsmeade. (See page 394 for more on Tugog Logburner and Thakrak Hell-Hawk) Urg was renowned for striking an alliance with the Wizards of Dufftown after his fulfilment of the contract placed upon the dreaded highwayman Earnest Voltar. Upon killing Voltar he presented the body to Mayor Antony Hemingway, who in response allied himself with Urg for dealing with the dangerous highwayman._

 _Of course historians dispute that Voltar was not, in-fact, a highwayman but rather a wizard rumoured to have been having an affair with the Mayors wife._

 _The alliance was short-lived but remains to be the most recent instance of magical cooperation between Wizardkind and the Goblin Community. Born from this alliance was the integration of bounties as a third party member of the judicial system, designed to keep "The Wizards in place" as Kuga the Gorger said. The business of bounties have now become a long-standing honour placed tradition amongst the Goblin Nation._

 _The most recent case being Lenora Jopkirk, a witch accused of murdering several of her husbands in order to lay claim to insurance money. After being ruled innocent of murder and fraud by the Department of Law Enforcement a joint partnership between Pushgrimp Theghaw and Lady Hortensia Thenaldire (the sister of Ms Jopkirk's third husband) resulted in a bounty of 50,000 Galleons upon her capture. Captured in 1952 by Janus Oberon Black III she was found guilty of her crimes and sent to Azkaban-_

Any focus Harry had on writing his essay was long gone as he stared down at his book. "A long-standing tradition" the book had said; does that mean it's still in use now? Harry's head began to whirl as an idea began forming in his mind. Since the truth could not convince Fudge or the Ministry of Voldemort's return, then perhaps money would. He stood up excitedly, pacing in his room as a plan began to form in his mind. If Voldemort wouldn't play fair then neither would Harry! If money could convince Fudge to turn his back on the truth then perhaps Harry could use it to turn it back again. Hastily grabbing his quill he began writing a quick letter, grimacing as he struggled to remember the name of the Goblin he had met when he was eleven. Gold-hoop? Something Gurdy? Griphook!

 _To Griphook,_

 _You may not remember me but I met you on my first visit to Diagon Alley when I was 11. My name is Harry Potter and I would like to make an inquiry about bounties-_

Harry paused in his writing, deciding that being vague would probably be the best option if his message were given to the wrong person, after all if the ministry got this letter Harry had no doubts that they would somehow peg it as treason and send him to Azkaban.

 _-I was wondering if Gringotts still maintains the higher authority in managing such events and what sum you'd imagine would hypothetically be considered to be an above normal sum in regards to such an award for the capture of an individual._

 _Thank you for your time,_

 _Harry Potter_

'Hedwig!' Hedwig looked at Harry haughtily and ruffled her feathers as she slowly came out of her cage. 'I need you to take this to Griphook in Gringotts, and no one, I repeat no one Hedwig can look at this message besides him. Please?' He added as Hedwig narrowed her eyes, before reluctantly placing out her foot for Harry to attach the message. With a final nip on his finger she flew out the window, Harry watching her go until she disappeared entirely into the night sky.

-oOo-

 **31st July 1995**

It was the next morning that Harry began having doubts about his plan. After all he was basically declaring war on Voldemort publically by even considering this idea. Then there was the possibility that the Ministry had gotten a hold of the message and was currently finding a way to get him arrested. He'd been on edge for the entire day and had jerked so violently when a car backfired that he ended up smashing one of Aunt Petunia's display plates. She had ended up screaming at him for a full half hour about how that plate was a present from "Dear Old" Mrs Winters who lived two houses down, and had sent him up to his room for the rest of the day with no food as punishment. Never mind the fact that Petunia had loudly been gossiping about the woman that very morning, apparently what Harry had done was bordering on treason for her. As the day began to wind down, Harry came to the conclusion that his letter was probably not taken seriously. Even though he felt a small flare of relief at that idea, he glumly imagined the Goblins laughing at Gringotts; thinking about crazy Harry Potter who was so desperate for help that he was willing to pay for it.

A hoot in the distance caught Harry's attention and he immediately went to the window, peering out for any sign of Hedwig. Instead he received a face full of feathers as he spluttered as Pigwidgeon flapped around the room. His mood immediately looked up as he noticed the letters attached as well as several packages that were hovering on the floor. Harry suspected that Pig had needed some help in bringing the packages and Harry hastily shoved some owl treats in front of him in order to keep him quiet. He had received a number of letters and he immediately grabbed the one that had Hermione's neat lettering as he ripped it open, hoping that there'd be some sort of news if the mass pile of letters were any indication.

 _Happy Birthday Harry!_

With a start Harry remembered that it was indeed his birthday and suddenly his mood dropped again.

 _So sorry that I haven't be able to write much, but I hope you have a-_

He scrunched the letter up immediately and threw it into his bin. Of course he wasn't getting any news! Never mind him trapped here with his horrible, abusive relatives! They obviously didn't care that Harry had been going mad with worry about what Voldemort was doing, send him some treats and he'll be right as rain! With a scowl he roughly shoved the pile away from him, instead opting to watch Pig eat his treats. At least someone was enjoying Harry's birthday. As hunger set in he reluctantly opened a package and set about eating an entire box of Chocolate Frogs that Harry assumed Remus had sent.

He had just thrown his third Dumbledore card into the trash when another loud hoot drew his attention. Pig hooted loudly, startled as Harry hurtled to the window a smile growing on his face as he recognised Hedwig approaching. Relief spread through Harry as she entered the room giving him an affectionate nip on the ear. It seemed that he was forgiven.

'There you are! I was worried, you took so long.' Harry muttered, as he looked her over, eyes freezing on her leg…that had a scroll attached to it. Taking the scroll he sat down on his bed, silently debating on whether or not to open it. His eyes caught sight of the pile of birthday letters and Harry immediately unrolled it, his fingers shaking as he read.

 _Dear Mr Potter,_

 _We at Gringotts are delighted to hear from you and will endeavour to answer any questions that you may have in regards to our other opportunities._

 _We will begin with your inquiry into bounties; yes the practise of bounties is still a legally recognised practise within the magical community, and is solely controlled by Gringotts and the Goblin Nation._

 _Secondly, the highest bounty ever issued by Gringotts was 100,000 Galleons. Any sum that reaches that range would be certain to attract not only local but international attention._

 _For further interest into such a hypothetical situation we have sent you a secure package, containing a formal bounty submission form as well as a summary of your current assets._

 _We at Gringotts wish you a very good day,_

 _Griphook_

Harry could hardly breathe; he seemed to be stuck in some odd out of body experience as he sat there on his bed looking down at the small piece of parchment. He instantly grabbed his vault statement and read over it, his eyes widening at the amount. Well he could certainly afford to be rewarding, he grinned as he grabbed a quill and looked over the form. Now all Harry had to do was fill it in, but the question remained: Who?

To put a bounty out for Voldemort would be ridiculous, no one would be suicidal enough to go for that no matter the reward. Lucius Malfoy would simply buy his way out and so would several of the other Death Eaters he had encountered at the graveyard. For a moment Harry was tempted to name Snape but a voice that sounded like Hermione kept on hounding him until he gave up on that idea.

'It has to be someone who can't buy there way out of it, someone who everyone will recognise but won't be able to do anything-' he muttered to himself, wracking his brain for a suitable candidate to be part of this crazy idea. It was as if a light bulb went off in his head as Harry laughed, and continued to laugh as the answer to all his problems revealed itself. It would be _source_ of all his problems.

 _Peter Pettigrew_

With fervour, Harry set about writing his bounty, jumping in surprise as the parchment glowed bright gold as he finished. He smirked as he saw the familiar scratchy scrawl flash on the bottom.

 _Gringotts thanks you for your business Mr Potter_

If the public was so intent on not seeing the truth, then he would just have to make them see it. And with that Harry went to sleep that night, having the first peaceful rest that he'd had in a long time.

-oOo-

 **31st July 1995**

– **10pm, The Ministry of Magic**

Kingsley Shacklebolt had just been ready to depart for an Order meeting when a memo had shot through his floo bearing words that would come to haunt him in the future.

 _My office,_ _ **now-**_ _Amelia_

No body kept Amelia Bones waiting. Which was why Kingsley was now hurriedly speed walking down the atrium at the ministry, having been delayed by his need to send a patronus message to Dumbledore informing him of his whereabouts. The Ministry was practically deserted by this time, and Kingsley saw several late night stragglers walk past him hurriedly on his way to Amelia's office. Anything that could get Amelia worried immediately concerned Kingsley; the veteran auror was not someone who was easily moved and the blunt urgency of her message was enough to convince him that something was drastically wrong. He knocked on her office door and it immediately flung open, slamming shut behind him as it locked with a loud click.

'Amelia?'

Amelia Bones sat behind her desk, her eyes closed as if she was in pain, nursing a glass of whisky in her left hand. Kingsley noted that the bottle was half-empty and that she already had another one set out in preparation. She opened her eyes and held up a hand to stem his questions as she downed the rest of her drink before she grimaced at him.

'Sit Kingsley.' Amelia said hoarsely, flicking her wand as she summoned another glass and poured him a drink. He shook his head at the offer but she shoved it into his hands anyway.

'You'll need it.' Was her gruff reply to his concerned glance as she pushed an official looking document towards him, pouring herself another drink. She gave him a dismissive wave as he unrolled the scroll, eyeing the parchment with caution; The seal was from Gringotts and Kingsley was initially still at a loss as to what was the matter before he read the title, making a small chocking sound in the back of his throat as his eyes grew wide.

 **BY THE ORDER OF THE GOBLIN NATION**

 **WE DECLARE THAT THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUAL IS NOW**

 **MOST WANTED**

 **PETER PETTIGREW**

 _Wanted Alive_

 _Wanted for the murder of Cedric Amos Diggory, for participation in forbidden Blood Magiks', for conspiracy to commit the murder of Harry James Potter and Bertha Jorkins, for being a member of the cult known as "Death Eaters", for the act of Treason in the First Wizarding War, for the murder of no fewer than twelves muggles in 1981, for obstruction of justice in the case of Sirius Black, and for being an illegal animagus._

 _Be warned that the subject is an animagus in the form of a rat: distinguishable in human and animal form in that his right hand/paw is made out of silver_

 **In the event of his capture or information leading to his capture into the authority of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement**

 **The sum of**

 **100,000 Galleons**

 **Will be paid in full by Harry James Potter**

Kingsley noted with grim amusement that the "illegal animagus" part seemed to be tacked on as though it was an after thought. Taking his lead from Amelia he downed his glass and refilled it as she ran her hands through her hair.

'Potter was considerate enough to send us a copy in advance,' Amelia said wryly ending the sudden silence that had taken place between them. 'A copy's been sent out to every law agency in Europe,' she grimaced, 'as well as every printing press.'

'It will be madness,' Kingsley said, finally finding his words as he began imagining the chaos that would arise when this got out.

Amelia grunted in agreement as she stood up, turning to look out her window that overlooked the atrium. 'Tomorrow this place will be over run Kingsley,' Her voice said steely, lost in thought before she briskly assumed command of the situation. 'We'll have to issue a statement confirming the validity of this document, which it is,' she answered his unspoken questions as she handed him a document. 'You've been reassigned from finding Black to finding Pettigrew.'

Kingsley was rather taken aback by her acceptance of the situation. 'You think Potter's telling the truth?' He asked carefully and she grunted looking him in the eyes.

'Yes I do, and you wouldn't be in my office if I didn't know you think the same.'

With a nod Kingsley turned to leave, but he lingered before he turned to ask her the question that had been on his mind.

'Do you believe him?'

She was silent for a moment before a shadow crossed over her face.

'I was here the first time he came around Shacklebolt; I'd recognize the signs if it ever happened again.'

With that he was dismissed and Kingsley heaved a sigh of relief as he left the tension filled office. He looked over the empty desks of the DMLE rather wistfully as he realized that it would not be like this for a very long time. In several months time he would look back on this meeting and laugh, thinking about how very right he was.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer- Harry Potter and its respective characters belong to J.K. Rowling.

Authors Note- Wow! I am so overwhelmed with how this story has been received, I posted it just before I went to bed and checked when I woke up and it was freaking crazy. Thank you all so much! Thanks to every person who read the first chapter, or followed this, or added it to their favourites-Just Thank you! Since I'm on holiday's at the moment I'll be able to update more frequently, and I'll try to get ahead of my writing for when I resume Uni again.

In this chapter I make a reference to floo fire being blue, that's just part of my head canon that the floo colour is a different colour when you do it in certain place, or when it's certain people who use it :P

Also a Super Thanks to **Uber Ghidorah** for reminding me of the silver hand Peter has! I knew I forgot something important and you nailed it! I'm going to go back and change a few lines in that chapter (and fix several grammatical errors I made) so just imagine that that line never existed and I did instead mention his silver hand/paw/thing. But really...Peter is such as asshole; he doesn't even use his good hand for Voldemort's resurrection ritual. I mean, like how rude.

* * *

 **Most Wanted: Peter Pettigrew**

 **1st August 1995**

 **-2:35 am, The Daily Prophet, Wandsworth; London**

Melanie Williams liked her job at the Daily Prophet on most days.

At first her job as an assistant secretary had simply been a way for her to pay the bills, a way to pay for her entrance into the Saint Mungo's healers training program. But then one year had passed, and then another, then two more, and Melanie found herself rather comfortable in her position.

She'd make coffee for her boss, gossip with the others assistants and reporters, file a few papers and then leave at 5pm every day. The downside to this was that the press never slept and neither would Melanie apparently as she was rudely woken up by her boss flooing her and screaming at her to get up.

It was _two_ in the morning.

Grumbling and calling her boss an all manner of foul names she hurriedly got ready for her shift. They probably wanted her to draft up an opinion piece on some new legislation or on something else that Dumbledore had done. She tried not to dwell on Dumbledore for too long, she had been a student at Hogwarts once; a muggle-born witch who was completely enamoured with the world around her.

There was something that didn't sit right with her about slandering the name of the man who had introduced her to this world, the man who had smiled and worn outrageously coloured robes because he knew they would shock the more traditional wizards amongst them. The same man who at her graduation had shook her hand and smiled, saying _"Congratulations Melanie, best of luck at Saint Mungo's, I know you'll do great things."_ Of course he had to say that to all of his students, but Melanie had never breathed a word about her desire to become a healer to anyone and yet here she was pretending she was "Mrs Perkins" who witnessed Dumbledore crucioing kittens last Sunday.

Shaking her head from these thoughts, she reluctantly grabbed a handful of floo powder and threw it in her fire.

'The Daily Prophet, Wandsworth!'

In a whirl of green Melanie arrived at the gilded establishment that was the Daily Prophet. When she first arrived at the Prophet she had surmised that it was exactly like the Ministry except decorated in white instead of black; it was always a place of noise and laughter, even at 2 morning.

Which was why Melanie was extremely concerned when she exited the fireplace to find it almost completely silent. Of course it was 3 in the morning and she hardly expected it to be the bustling centre that it normally was, but the hushed whispers and the eerie tension that had descended was disconcerting.

Hurriedly making her way to the editing room she hoped that she'd get some answers before she stopped outside her boss' office. His side door was slightly open and she could hear Mason Pritchard, the editor of the Prophet, and Emily Dorne, the lead writer for the gossip column talking in hushed whispers. After a quick look around to make sure no one else was in the office Melanie moved forwards, ducking behind a pile of newspapers as she peeked in.

'You've heard then?' Mason whispered to Emily, looking excited.

'Yes! The Potter boy-' Emily whispered back as she looked at something with wide eyes.

'I thought this was a hoax, but apparently it's legit! I've got a statement from Amelia Bones-'

'Surely not! This is probably rubbish, some silly little attention-'

'Quiet down and use your head for once Emily,' Mason hissed. 'All that talk about Potter was complete crap and you know it, this-this is real!'

'But 100,000 galleons-' Melanie's eyes widened and she leaned forwards to try and hear more.

'Is out there for the taking Emily!' Mason interrupted, gripping Emily by the shoulders. 'Look I was a year ahead of Peter in school-,' Melanie strained her neck as she desperately tried to hear as his voice lowered. 'He was nothing compared to Potter, Black and Lupin-he could barely cast a summoning charm without having one of them hold his hand. If we can get him-,'

'This says he's a Death Eater! That he killed that boy from the Triwizard Cup Mason!' Emily exclaimed loudly and Melanie put a hand over her mouth in shock, surely not! That was an accident! The Ministry wouldn't lie about the murder of a teenage boy-would they?

'So we'll all go in a group, safety in numbers!'

'This is-,' whatever it was Melanie would never know as the pile of newspapers she was leaning on suddenly gave way; falling on the ground as they brought her down with it. She lay there dazed for a few moments before Mason and Emily exited the office.

'Melanie! Are you alright dear?' Emily hurried over and helped her up, Melanie making sure that she avoided eye contact with Mason. 'Honestly Mason I told you stacking them was going to get someone crushed,' she reprimanded.

'I'll make sure not to do it again.' There was something icy in his tone and Melanie flinched as she realised she had been caught.

'Williams get me a coffee, double shot of firewhisky,' he barked at her as he turned back to his office, ignoring Emily's scandalized yell of "Mason!" as he slammed the door.

'Don't mind him dear,' she patted her arm consolingly before her eyes lit up. 'But you won't believe what came in the mail last night,' she leaned forward and grinned, reminding Melanie of Rita Skeeter the reporter whose shoes Emily had filled.

'We got a letter from Gringotts bank, all very proper, see they've put a bounty out-,' she paused for a dramatic effect. 'A 100,000 Galleon bounty on Peter Pettigrew!'

Melanie would have been shocked if she wasn't so confused.

'Whose Peter Pettigrew?'

'Pettigrew's the wizard who was murdered by Sirius Black dear!' Emily seemed to be thrilled that she had no idea who this man was. 'He was one of the best friends of the Potters, when they were betrayed Pettigrew went and confronted Black and was murdered!'

'But you just said he was murdered,' Melanie pointed out.

'Exactly darling!' Emily trilled as she applied her lipstick. 'The real question is, why is someone paying so much for a dead man?'

-oOo-

 **-4 am, The Ministry of Magic; Kingsley's Office**

Kingsley Shacklebolt had been working non-stop since his impromptu invitation to meet Amelia Bones last night. He knew as soon as word got out of the reward on Pettigrew's head there would be chaos, 100,000 galleons was no small amount of money and plenty would kill for far less.

He didn't doubt that word had already probably gotten out somehow (things this large had a way of doing that) and that it was making its way around Knockturn Alley. He could only hope that it took at least another hour for the Death Eaters to get a hold of this information. Kingsley knew that the Death Eaters would sell Pettigrew out for only a fraction of the reward price, but they wouldn't be the one making the final call. At this point Voldemort could go either way, keep Peter close or kill him. The last option seemed the most likely, but the fact remained that as long as no one knew where Peter (or his body) was then people would keep on searching until they found him, or it.

He could not help how amusing he found this entire situation.

Sirius and Remus had both warned Dumbledore that Harry was bound to get restless if they left him locked up and out of the loop for too long, and here was the result. When most teenagers rebelled they'd go run off for a few days, maybe grab a pack of smokes or get blindly drunk; Potter just had to go and start up what Kingsley suspected would be one of the biggest manhunts in Wizarding Britain's history.

One good thing to come out of this was that he was removed from being the head of Sirius' case; he had never been comfortable with the knowledge that he was deliberately sabotaging an investigation, regardless of Sirius' innocence it had nagged on his conscience at times. But Pettigrew was definitely guilty and Kingsley would be damned if he'd let the man slip away again; if for Sirius' sake than nothing else, God knows that the man needed something to go right for once.

He had also purposely stalled informing the Order in favour of getting organised and prepared to head the manhunt that was coming underway. As much as Kingsley respected Dumbledore he would be damned if he'd give Pettigrew the opportunity to get ahead by informing Snape. For all of Dumbledore's assurance in his loyalty he could never buy them. This was a man who had willingly joined the group at the height of their power, when it was widespread knowledge what lengths they could go to.

Reluctantly Kingsley had to ask Amelia for a break and she had reluctantly let him go; giving him an hour max as she scowled down at the mass of paperwork in front of her. He heard a loud smash, of what he assumed was Amelia's second empty bottle of firewhisky (she had smashed the first one on the wall after the editor of the Daily Prophet flooed in demanding to know if the bounty was true) and hurried to the atrium.

He had called an emergency meeting of the Order of the Phoenix ten minutes ago and had spent five minutes sitting in his office, working himself up to telling everybody. Visualising the grimy house that was headquarters, Kingsley turned and apparated, reappearing in the front hall of Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

With a sigh he entered the kitchen where the Order was assembled. Everyone their was either hurriedly dressed (Tonks' shirt was inside out and back to front) or still in their pyjamas. He noted in amusement that Dumbledore was wearing robes with rainbow ducks on them, and saw Minerva shoot Dumbledore a withering glare from underneath her tartan nightcap. She really couldn't criticise Dumbledore, I mean really she was wearing tartan...

'Kingsley,' Dumbledore greeted pleasantly as Kingsley suddenly remembered why he was there as he grimaced. 'You called an emergency meeting-'

'It's four in the morning!' Charlie Weasley blurted out; glaring at him and from the looks around the table several people shared his sentiment.

Kingsley grimaced and passed Dumbledore the scroll who took it curiously before he unrolled it, eyes scanning the parchment. In all his life Kingsley had never felt the mood of a room drop so quickly then it did just then. The atmosphere with Amelia had definitely been tense but now it was suffocating.

'Amelia called me in last night,' Kingsley elaborated to Dumbledore who looked uncharacteristically grave. 'These have been sent to every law enforcement agency and news press in Europe.'

Dumbledore closed his eyes in thought and nodded, his countenance starkly conflicting with his choice in pyjamas.

'Albus?' Minerva worriedly asked as Dumbledore nodded at Kingsley who took it as his cue to elaborate to the rest of the Order.

'I was called into Amelia's office last night,' he deliberately avoided looking anywhere near Snape. 'As of last night a bounty of 100,000 galleons has been placed upon Peter Pettigrew.'

It seemed to take a moment for what he said to sink in as several people stared at him blankly before they turned to shock.

'I-um, sorry Kingsley did you-,' Remus' voice was hoarse as he stared at him, his fingers gripping the table so hard that they were turning white.

He nodded at Remus who slumped in his chair, and Kingsley noted that Sirius seemed to have gone into a state of shock.

'Who made the bounty?' Alastor Moody asked as Kingsley winced.

'Harry Potter.'

It took several minutes to regain some resemblance of order in the kitchen after Kingsley's announcement.

Molly Weasley had screamed, waking up Mrs Black who screamed, startling Sirius from his shock as he got up to scream back. Minerva and Dumbledore were talking in frantic hushed whispers while the rest of the table was not so quiet; excluding Snape of course, who was glowering in a corner and muttering to himself.

'100, 000 Galleons!' Hestia Jones squealed excitedly to Emmeline Vance, who was hastily scribbling down in her notepad. 'Merlin Emmy, the things that we could do with that money-'

Molly was now mumbling to her self as Arthur tried to calm her down, while the rest of his colleagues in the Aurors began firing questions at him.

'The public will go mad,' Kingsley said to Alastor, eyeing Hestia and Emmeline warily as they loudly began preparing to go after Pettigrew. '100,000 galleons Moody-they're going to rip this country apart to find him.'

'100,000 galleons,' Charlie repeated, a far off look on his face as he stared at the opposite wall.

'Can he even pay that?' Mundungus Fletcher asked; looking far too eager if the glare Molly was giving him was any indication.

'The Potters were a very wealthy family,' Sirius answered hoarsely as he entered the room again. 'And Harry is the only member of the family left,' he swallowed tightly. 'He'd be able to pay that easily.'

'The goblins would not have put the contract out if he was unable to pay,' Bill agreed, 'they're going to be sending out some people of their own, especially since the reward is so high.'

'But why go after Pettigrew?' Arthur sputtered, before hastily continuing as Sirius made to reply quite loudly. 'Now I know _why_ Sirius, but everybody thinks that Pettigrew's dead! Why not on some other Death Eater?'

'Because they're lining Fudge's pockets with gold Arthur,' Moody said, an eerie looking smile on his face. 'Dead men can't bribe, and they can't be defended by the living either. I think even Fudge for all his incompetence would see that there's something suspicious if Lucius bribes him to cover this up.'

'Mr Potter did say that Pettigrew was present at Voldemort's return,' Minerva said catching on to where Moody was leading. 'If they catch Pettigrew then they'll know that Potter is telling the truth! About Voldemort and Sirius!'

Sirius gave a breathless laugh at this and Kingsley had never seen the man more happy in all the time that he knew him.

'If this is true,' Snape spat venomously, 'then Pettigrew will more of a liability then an asset to the Dark Lord. As soon as he hears of this he will send people to kill him.'

The mood died down quite a bit at that before Moody suddenly rounded on Snape.

'What do you mean _send_ people to kill him,' Moody growled, his glass eye focusing on Snape. 'You said he was at Malfoy Manor.'

Snape seemed to realise his mistake a moment to late and sneered at Moody.

'It is not my duty to play babysitter to-'

' _You said he was at Malfoy Manor!'_ Moody growled back and Kingsley grabbed his wand in preparation of a fight.

'Alastor please,' Dumbledore intervened tiredly before shooting a hard look at Snape. 'Please elaborate on Mr Pettigrew's whereabouts Severus.'

Snape looked as though he was made to swallow something extremely bitter at this, and for a moment Kingsley thought he'd refuse to answer. Not that he had much of a choice really, if the way Moody, Sirius and Remus was looking at him any indication of what would happen if he didn't.

'Pettigrew,' Snape spat out through gritted teeth. 'Is occasionally sent out by the Dark Lord to visit Diagon Alley in his animagus form. He collects Intel and ensures that the Dark Lord's allies are not making any back door deals.'

There was a loud clatter as Sirius stood up, wand in hand as he looked at Snape murderously.

'You knew he was out this whole time,' Sirius said lowly and Kingsley was fleetingly reminded of his last visit to Azkaban where he met Bellatrix Lestrange. The comparison did not bode well for anyone in the room.

'Sirius,' Kingsley spoke, standing between him and Snape. 'I only just got put off your case, let's not start up a new one.'

Sirius lowered his wand and glared at Snape before sitting down, his hands bunched into fists.

'If Pettigrew's in Knockturn Alley then he would know about the bounty,' Moody said gruffly while shooting a dark look at Snape. 'He's going to be most wanted man in Britain without a doubt; The public, Death Eaters and us are all after him now. If he has any brains he'll be on the run.'

'Peter always did have a high sense of self preservation,' Remus agreed darkly.

'Not a high enough sense Lupin,' Snape hissed viciously, looking distinctly unhappy at how he'd been reprimanded. 'The fact remains that both you and Black are still alive,' Kingsley and several other people made to yell at the bastard before they were interrupted.

There was a loud skidding noise as Remus stood up and tackled Snape onto the floor, Molly's screams mingled with Mrs Black's as Remus sent Snape sprawling with a sharp right hook to the nose. Kingsley stared at the scene in shock as both men began throwing punches before there was a loud crack and sudden whoosh of air in the room as both men were roughly forced apart and into opposite corners.

'That is enough from both of you!' Dumbledore's eyes flashed dangerously at both Remus and Snape, who were now sporting a split lip and a broken nose respectively.

Remus stood up and dusted off his robes, not looking apologetic in the slightest, before he turned to Sirius.

'I'll be in Knockturn Alley if anyone needs me.' Remus shot a parting glare at Snape before he left the room, roughly pulling Mrs Blacks' curtain shut on the way.

'Well,' Charlie stood up and clapped his hands together, breaking the silence. 'If that's all there is to the meeting, I have some friends to contact-'

'Charlie Weasley!' Molly stood up and glared at her son, 'You are not going to go run off and-'

'Well I am,' Mundungus stood up as he examined his pocket watch. 'Knockturn Alley's gonna be over'un in the next 'irty minutes. I'm going to grab what ever I can an' make the most of it.'

With that he left the room and several people tensely looked at each other.

'I think I'll head back now,' Bill stood up, deliberately avoiding looking anywhere near his mother. 'Good bye!'

With that Charlie tugged his brother out the room as several other people began listing excuses as to where they needed to be. Hestia, Emmeline, Dedalus, Tonks, Sturgis and finally Moody all quickly exited the kitchen; Moody roughly patting Kingsley on the back in farewell as he clunked his way out of the now silent kitchen.

'So,' Sirius began, grinning around at the remaining members. 'Anyone up for a drink?'

-oOo-

 **-8:25 am, The Ministry of Magic; Department of Magical Law Enforcement**

It was pandemonium in the Ministry; chaos seemed to be the reigning factor of the day as the entire British Wizarding community began going mad. Amelia Bones had expected a response of course, it was _100,000 Galleons_ that was at stake here, but she had been cautiously optimistic. Deluded more like, she snorted to herself.

The first sign of complete and utter chaos had been when Amelia had been forced to douse her fire; the rush of people trying to contact her had resulted in a back up that had temporarily shut down the floo network, making the entire situation worse when the floo came back up again five minutes later and several hundred witches and wizards all came tumbling out at the same time.

Owls were flooding in every minute demanding to know whether the bounty was legitimate; Amelia had been forced to seal her window shut due to the magnitude of the letters alone. With a grimace she flinched slightly as another owl hit the glass of her window and spared a glance as she saw it flap at her indignantly from the window.

It wasn't as though Amelia could do anything though; this chaos wasn't even being contained to the Ministry! Already she had reports of two people being sent to Saint Mungo's for injuries in what Auror Higgins had described as a "stampede" in Diagon Alley. Auror Petrov had also been forced to call in reinforcements after an argument over whether or not an animagus retained his clothes during change had gotten drastically out of hand; resulting in a duel that left several stores in the area severely damaged, with at least five people being sent to Saint Mungo's for injuries.

And this was only in _her_ department.

Apparently things like the Statue of Secrecy didn't matter anymore, with an old witch in Hackney releasing her trained Crup's on her village to "sniff him out" as Auror Tonks had put it. She did not envy the obliviator's at this point.

Amelia herself was stretched thin as she was forced to assign aurors not only to try and calm the raging mob at Diagon and Knockturn Alley, but also to deal with the influx of people arriving with tips and leads. She could hear the shouts from her office and grimaced, downing her third pain-relieving potion for the day as her headache started up again.

'I saw him in Knockturn Alley yesterday!'

'I remember him from Hogwarts! Never liked the bastard, I swear I saw him last week at the-'

'I told you that I was with Stubby Boardman that night! I told you all that he couldn't have done it!'

She paused at the last one. Who the hell was Stubby Boardman?

'There's another one for the "crazy tip list" Amelia. We're on a role, it's been 25 minutes and we've already beaten our record.'

Here was Rufus Scrimgeour, the proud head of the Auror Department, casually reclining in her chair and sipping on his coffee as Amelia took a moment to breathe. He had come in just before the prophet had arrived citing he had an early copy and had proceeded to lounge in her chair, observing the chaos with amusement.

Amelia noted grimly that it _had_ only been 25 minutes since the Prophet had been delivered and groaned as she realized that this was what it would be like for the rest of the day. She had already called in every available auror as well as the reserves in a futile attempt to reign in the madness that had seized the whole bloody country.

Then again a third of her own aurors hadn't even shown up to work that morning, and if the rumour mill around the office was to be believed several had theorised that they had already broken off to get a head start on the bounty. She already had assigned Auror Dawlish to compile a list of names of the people who could regrettably not made it to work that day for the various bunch of bullshit excuses they had made up.

It could be the end of the world itself and Amelia would still expect her aurors to come up with a better excuse than,

" _My cat is sick and needs medical attention -Timothy Whithers"_

Whithers' didn't even own a fucking cat.

'You could help,' Amelia said bluntly raising an eyebrow at Rufus who laughed.

'Amelia nothing is going to help this.' He pointed to her window, which was barred and had at least 20 owls congregating outside of it. 'The only thing that would help this situation is capturing Pettigrew.'

'You think he's telling the truth?' Amelia asked and Rufus snorted.

'Amelia, no one cares about the truth.' Something clenched painfully in her chest as he said that. 'All I know is that there's 100,000 galleons out there on Pettigrew's head and that everyone wants it.'

'I'm sure Kingsley could use a hand,' Amelia's gaze flickered outside her door, where Nymphadora Tonks tripped and knocked into a filing cabinet; causing a chain reaction that left half of her aurors on the ground.

'I'm sure he could,' Rufus agreed as he flipped through his copy of the Daily Prophet.

'And?' Amelia growled out through gritted teeth as she realised that Rufus was dragging this conversation on. The floo flared blue behind her and suddenly Rufus' eyes took on a predatory gleam.

'That is what Amelia.'

Cornelius Fudge toppled out of the floo and stumbled, looking incredibly shaken with his clothes messed up as he looked wildly around the room for Amelia.

'Amelia! What in Merlin's name is going on!' The man sputtered, knocking his bowling hat off in shock as another owl hit the glass of Amelia's window. 'I came in this morning and there was all of this!' He wildly gestured around the room, waving his hands about wildly. Any other day Amelia would have laughed at him but right now she could completely understand what he meant.

'I'd suggest you read the headline of every newspaper today Minister,' Rufus said happily and Amelia groaned as she realised why he was in her office. He had come to gloat. She shot a warning look at Rufus who smirked back at her standing up as he passed Fudge the paper.

Had the Minister been anyone else, Amelia would have been concerned at how quickly the blood drained from his face.

'Pettigrew's dead!'

'100,000 Galleons says he's not,' was Rufus' dry reply as he passed Amelia another brandy.

'Please, it's hardly like the boy can pay it-'

'Charlus Potter and Dorea Black's grandson?' Rufus scoffed, 'No, no I'm sure a family as influential as the Potters _and Black's_ could hardly handle a sum a measly as that.'

'This is-OH FOR THE LOVE OF-' Fudge paused mid tirade as another owl slammed into Amelia's window. 'Honestly Amelia,' she had never seen the man so flustered before and took no small amount of satisfaction at his discomfort. 'Can't you just call this off?'

'This is Gringotts business Minister,' Amelia explained patiently. 'The Ministry-'

'The Goblins can go and-!' Fudge exploded before another owl slammed into her window. 'FOR FU-'

'Minister!' Amelia grimaced and downed the rest of her brandy; refilling her glass as Delores Umbridge waddled in, followed closely by Percival Weasley who was an alarming shade of red. Even Delores' sickly sweet personality couldn't stand the barrage of chaos that had erupted, as she entered looking distinctly ruffled and unhappy.

'The ambassador for France is demanding to know whether this-this- _mess_ applies to them!' Delores' face twisted up like some ugly red prune as she spat that out and Amelia made a mental note to send Potter some firewhisky just for pissing her off so much.

'The reward is open to,' Rufus cleared his throat and read off his paper smirking at Fudge while Amelia resisted the urge to bash his head against her desk. 'And I quote "any person who leads to Pettigrew's capture and arrival into the hands of the DMLE."'

'That's a yes Weatherby,' Rufus said dismissively to Weasley who flushed a deep shade of purple as he viciously scribbled down on his notepad.

'But Pettigrew is dead!' Fudge seemed to have convinced himself that if he said it enough times it might actually come true.

'The public doesn't care about whether or not Pettigrew's dead Fudge!' Rufus snapped exasperated. 'All they care about is the money! Surely I thought you of all people would understand that.'

It was far, far to early for this. Fudge was slowly turning purple while Delores looked as though she was a fish out of water, her mouth opening and closing as her beady eyes focused on Rufus.

'How dare you accuse the Minister-!?'

'Oh shut up Delores,' Amelia snapped deciding to intervene before someone killed someone else. If they had a murder on top of all this Amelia doubted she'd be able to spare an auror until Christmas and she could only imagine the paperwork…

'This is out of our hands,' Amelia said tiredly. 'The only one who can get rid of it is it's sponsor-'

'Potter!' Fudge spat out, hands shaking as he tried to reign in on his rage. 'He's with Dumbledore on this I'm certain, trying to undermine the ministry!'

Amelia breathed in deeply; she was not in a mood to hear another one of Fudge's "Potter and Dumbledore are conspiring together" theories. With the way he carried on he could fit right in with the Quibbler crowd.

'We'll have to get Potter to take it down!'

Rufus began clapping loudly as Fudge came to that conclusion, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he praised Fudge.

'Well done Fudge! Let's go and ask the teenager you've been mercilessly hounding if he would be so kind as to remove the bounty on the man who he claims murdered one of his friends! Not to mention Bertha Jorkins, let's not forget that embarrassing incident-'

Bertha Jorkins had been the deciding factor in Amelia's decision to believe Harry Potter. She had hounded Ludo Bagman for months about her disappearance and by the time he had gotten his head out of his ass and reported her missing it was too late. No one had heard anything from her in over a year and a half and though Amelia was loathe to admit the worst in this situation the fact that a fourteen year old boy with no relation to the ministry had been able to get more information on Bertha was incredibly disturbing. She suddenly realised in disturbing clarity that Harry Potter was the same age as her niece and swallowed tightly.

'-And after we'll all go and make fucking daisy chains and sing songs and talk about our feelings!'

'Rufus.' She said carefully warned him to quit while he was ahead. The man in question looked somewhat disappointed before he shrugged and went back to reading his paper.

'Minister,' she spoke firmly, 'If you even attempt to have Potter take this down then the public will go mad; they'll think that you're depriving them of the chance to earn 100,000 Galleons-'

'But he's DEAD!'

Amelia breathed in sharply through her nose and began counting backwards from twenty, holding up a hand as she used all of her willpower to not throttle the man. She had thought him incompetent of course, but really she was surprised at just how _stupid_ he was.

'We can't do anything Minister besides our jobs, and at the moment our job is to control the panic surrounding this situation.' Amelia said firmly fixing Fudge with a withering glare to hit the finality of this situation home. He seemed to finally get it through his head that this was one situation that he could not "sweep under the rug" and made a high pitched grunt that Amelia took as a dismissal as he turned and left her office, summoning his fallen hat a moment later.

'This is going to be very interesting.' Rufus said as he finally stood, folding and putting the paper down. 'I'll go lend a hand with Kingsley then shall I?'

Not waiting for an answer he left the room, leaving Amelia to gather her scattered thoughts.

If anything Amelia mused as she watched Delores shriek at Weasley who had dropped several boxes of parchments, it was going to make for a very "interesting" next few months. Amelia spared a glance at her clock. 8:45.

God damn it.

* * *

A/N- That was a long chapter to write! I loved writing Amelia Bones and Rufus Scrimgeour though. I have this head canon that they both spend their Friday nights getting drunk and complaining about the good old days without Fudge. I imagine that Rufus can actually be pretty laid back and sarcastic but when we're introduced to him the HBP he's purely focused on taking Voldemort down so he's not really that sociable. But I really liked the guy when he was introduced, and he had such a sad end, refusing to tell Voldemort about Harry. *salutes canon Rufus Scrimgeour*

So anyway next chapter we'll be getting back to Harry and see what happens from there!

Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer- Harry Potter and its respective characters belong to J.K. Rowling. Also part of this chapter uses direct quotes and semi-direct quotes from _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix;_ these lines belong to J.K. Rowling and were only used to advance the plot of the story.

Authors Note- First off, sorry to any guest reviewers! I had the moderate guest reviews on as my default and didn't notice until after I'd posted the second chapter that it was on, But I've changed it now so feel free to type away! Also I'd like to give a huge thanks to the amazing 32 people who reviewed this story, the fantastic 56 people who added this to their favourites and the wonderful 117 people who added this to their alert list - I mean WOW! I'm so happy with the response I've been getting!

This chapter is a bit slower in terms of action but is necessary to explain a few important plot points, so I've tried to make it amusing as possible by adding in more dialogue! Yay!

* * *

 **Most Wanted: Peter Pettigrew**

 **1** **st** **August 1995**

 **-1:30 am, Knockturn Alley**

Very few witches or wizards dared to enter Knockturn Alley at night. The rumours that haunted that place told of werewolves, banshees, ghouls and vampires lurking the streets while they waited for a victim. Spiriting them away in the middle of the night, never to be seen again.

But rats had no need to worry about such perils.

At least that's what this particular rat seemed to think as it quickly made it's way down the uneven cobbled path of Knockturn Alley, taking care to not let anyone see it; hiding in the shadows as people passed.

Not that rats were uncommon in Knockturn Alley, if anything the alley would not be the same without the sound of their scurrying little feet and the pungent smell of the little presents they left behind. What was curious though was the ease with which this one rat made his way around the alley, as well as the strange silver appendage that made up the rat's right paw.

This particular rat stopped outside the door of an establishment known as Borgin and Burkes, its head twitching from side to side as it squeezed its fat little body into a small crack in the stonework. Shaking its head it slowly entered the establishment, its little paws pattering on the wooden floorboards as it came to rest behind a display of shrivelled up heads.

The rat sat there for long time, occasionally walking in circles or twitching its little feet, as it seemed to wait for something.

A bell rung, signalling the entrance of a customer and the rat's ears perked up, slowly edging forward as it observed the visitor.

The man was wearing a cloak, which obscured their face as they looked around cautiously; from within his cloak emerged a cane and with a flick of their wrist the door shut behind them.

From the back of the store an old man hobbled out a smirk appearing on his face as he observed his visitor.

'Buying Lucius?'

'Don't say my name,' Lucius replied coolly, removing his hood and reaching into his pocket; dumping a small pouch on the counter. 'Get me what I want Borgin, I have no time for your games.'

Borgin sneered, hobbling back into the back room of the store as Lucius looked around in contempt, eyes narrowing in on the dust and general filthy state of the store.

The rat twitched in the shadows, keeping out of Lucius' sight as it softly pawed its way across the room, watching as Borgin returned a moment later.

'Your requests milord.' There was a slight twitch in Lucius' jaw as Borgin mockingly bowed, placing several books and parchments on the counter. Lucius picked one up and flipped through it before placing it down and examining the rest.

'Are you sure that these are correct?'

'Absolutely milord! Unspeakable Rotworth was very reluctant to part with such _interesting_ documents.'

Lucius shut the book he was holding and shot Borgin a look of contempt as he reached back into his pocket.

'I'm sure this will make sure that such _interesting_ documents remain a secret, but I warn you Borgin,' Lucius lowered his voice as he leant forward to whisper. 'The Lord that I serve will not take kindly to anything other then complete compliance in matters as _serious_ as this. Do we have an understanding?'

Borgin grimaced, turning away as he muttered his reply back. The rat who had been observing this entire conversation twitched his nose and softly began making it's way back, seemingly satisfied with its small visit; Lucius seemed to be of the same mind as the rat as he gathered his purchases and made to leave.

'I didn't expect to see you here though,' Borgin spoke loudly as Lucius grasped the door handle. 'I'd have thought that you'd be busy, especially with what just happened.'

'And what just happened?' Lucius asked, his hand leaving the handle as he turned back. The rat, who was halfway to the door paused and turned around; crawling underneath a cabinet as it focused its beady little eyes on Borgin.

'I thought you'd have heard the news,' the old man feigned shock though the smirk on his face gave away his delight at knowing something Lucius did not.

'I don't have all day Borgin, get to it.' Lucius snapped impatiently, and Borgin leaned forward grinning widely.

'The ministry's gonna be looking for one of your old friends Lucius.'

'Not likely,' Lucius drawled, seemingly uninterested as he made to leave. 'If the Minister knows what's good for him he will desist from any such action.'

'Oh no,' Borgin still smirking. 'It's not you or one of the other illustrious lords and ladies that grace my humble establishment,' he fixed Lucius with a toothless grin. 'It's Peter Pettigrew they're after.'

There was silence in the store as Lucius grasped his cane tightly, his knuckles turning white. The rat, observing the scene, suddenly became as still as a statue, frozen as it looked on.

'What did you say?' Lucius' voice came out as a whisper, and Borgin chortled producing a paper from behind the counter.

'Take a good long look my lord! Front page news!' Borgin laughed aloud as Lucius snatched the paper from his grasp, frantically reading; his cold mask slipping as alarm flitted across his face. '100,000 galleons for Peter Pettigrew's head!' Borgin yelled, as he doubled over coughing.

'You can keep your goods,' Lucius hissed suddenly, snatching both the bags of galleons from the counter as he slammed the books back down onto it.

Borgin, still wheezing from his laughter fixed Lucius with a watery smirk as Lucius turned and abruptly left the establishment, the door slamming behind him. He chuckled to himself, unconcerned about his no sale, as he grabbed the books and retreated back into the store.

It was silent in the store. The rat, after having stayed frozen for several minutes began to walk forward slowly; it's beady eyes focused on the door where Borgin went. After several more minutes of staring an odd change started to take place.

The rats limbs began elongating, stretching in size and diameter as they began to morph into something that was not quite human. It's tiny head grew large; the ears and pointy nose rescinding into it's head as it began to take on a distinctly human appearance.

Within the span of several seconds the rat had changed from a rat to a man. A man who wore a distinct look of terror on his face as he began rifling through Borgins' draws frantically. He found what he was looking for quickly.

The man's pale skin looked almost opaque as the blood drained from his face. Dropping the paper as though it burned him, he clawed at the strands of hair that remained on his balding head, letting out a whimper.

A creak from within the store set the man on edge, flicking his silver hand quickly as the papers reorganized themselves. With a final glance at the back room the man turned back into his rat form; scampering from the room and back outside, putting as much distance between itself and the store as it could.

The rat now had a decision to make.

It looked down at the path that Lucius had taken and took several steps in that direction before it stopped, seemingly thinking. Slowly it began to backtrack, going in the opposite direction before it stopped at a sewer grate. With one final look around the empty alley the rat jumped down into the sewer, disappearing into the murky blackness of the underground sewage system.

 **-oOo-**

 **2** **nd** **August 1995**

 **-6:47 pm, Surrey**

It had been two days since Harry had acted out on his frustrations with the Wizarding world and in that time he had received no post whatsoever.

Even the owl that delivered the Daily Prophet was suspiciously absent, leaving Harry to become even more frustrated with his lack of news on the progress of his plan. It had to be having some effect after all, and Harry had specifically mentioned that he wanted a copy to be sent to every newspaper outlet in Europe. Surely the Prophet was not that deep in Fudge's pockets as to turn down as story like that. He had tried to keep as optimistic about this as he could, though as each hour passed by with no contact his hopes began to die.

Getting no letters from Ron or Hermione was not so surprising at this point; especially if they had found out about what he had done. The silent treatment was their best way of expressing disapproval after all; The incident with the Midnight Duel, the incident with Crookshanks, the incident with the Triwizard Tournament-all were characterised with everyone emphatically refusing to acknowledge the others existence for periods that could last for months at a time. Harry could clearly picture their responses when he finally (if ever) met them again.

Hermione would be furious with Harry.

' _This is so irresponsible Harry! Dumbledore must have a reason for why he's doing this, and foolishly acting out like this may jeopardize all the work he's done!'_

Well considering that no one thought to include me in these oh so _important_ plans, I think it's safe to say that they were most likely screwed either way.

Ron would most likely sulk that he was not informed earlier; giving Harry the silent treatment until he would pull his head out of his ass several hours later saying, _'That's brilliant mate! Insane and most likely going to fail but I mean-Wow.'_

Then he would go and suggest that they play a game of chess or go and eat as some kind of icebreaker, and Harry would be so grateful that he was not in isolation that he would go back without hesitation.

Prick.

But the real surprising thing for Harry was the lack of news from Remus or Sirius. He had expected some sort of reaction to putting a bounty on Pettigrew's head; after all, this was the man they had tried to kill two years ago.

He thought they'd at least be amused.

They had been the most understanding of Harry's frustrations; sending letters filled with encouragement and consolation rather than the blunt " _I'll tell you later"_ of his friend's letters.

But he had heard nothing, and seemed like it was going to stay that way for the unforeseeable future.

To make matters worse his relationship with his relatives at Privet Drive was quickly deteriorating.

Aunt Petunia had made mention of the broken plate to Uncle Vernon, setting the man in a foul mood that had resulted in Harry being deprived of food for another day as he was locked in his room. To top it off it was one of the hottest days on record; leaving Harry sweltering in his stuffy room as his family reclined luxuriously in front of the fan.

Only at the end of the day did Vernon reluctantly open the door, snarling at Harry that any misbehaving would resume in a permanent change in his living arrangements; from the smallest room in the house to the smallest cupboard in the house. He had been far too hot and tired to respond sarcastically, so had simply nodded as he made his way outside.

Once again, Harry found himself crouching outside his Uncle's living room as he tried to listen in on the news, this time from his aunt's flowerbed.

'The boys been acting stranger then usual Pet.' Vernon began, huffing as he exerted himself to reach for the remote.

'The window is open Vernon!' Aunt Petunia hissed back at her husband who was apologetic.

'Sorry Pet.'

Harry could clearly picture the expression of mixed contempt and disgust that she wore whenever magic was discussed; it was like looking at a cheaper, far less impressive, and more horse like version of Mrs Malfoy.

'But he's always lurking around nowadays,' Vernon continued, his voice kept at a hushed whisper. 'Always watching the _news…_ it's not right Pet-as if _his lot_ have anything to do with our news!'

Harry grinned as he remembered the news when Sirius broke out of Azkaban; his uncle had talked about him for days, loudly comparing him to Harry-something that Harry took quite a bit of pride in now.

Petunia made a sound of agreement and Vernon carried on.

'Now Dudders Pet, there's a fine example of a young man!'

Harry repressed a snort with difficulty. Dudley was, at best a fine example of a prize-winning pig; at his worst, a fine example of bad parenting.

'Doesn't give a damn about what's on the news; I doubt he knows who the Prime Minister is! Where is Dudders anyway?' Vernon asked, suddenly realizing that the elephant was not in the room for once.

'Out for tea with the Polkisses',' Aunt Petunia said fondly. 'He's got so many little friends, he's so popular…'

Harry had always thought his relatives were stupid, but sometimes he was alarmed at just how stupid they were. They were incredibly oblivious to the fact that dear "Dudders" spent practically every night out with a member of his gang; spending the night smoking cigarettes, vandalising, and beating up any unfortunate bloke that looked at them the wrong way.

His aunt had even loudly admonished Mrs Jones (from number 7 Privet Drive) when she came over to confront Petunia about Dudley beating up her eight year old son. Aunt Petunia had been aghast at the allegation, accusing Mrs Jones of "blaming her poor, sweet Dudders" over an accident she snidely suggested was most likely the work of Mr Jones, resulting in a passive aggressive feud between the two women.

Harry wondered how he was even related to her.

The opening music of the seven o'clock news began and Harry waited with bated breath to hear anything. Perhaps he'd hear something about Sirius and an ongoing investigation, or at worst hear of something Voldemort may have done in retaliation.

' _There has been chaos in Hackney after a local dog shelter was broken into early yesterday morning, releasing the entire pound out and loose onto the streets-'_

Nothing then.

Harry had hoped that something, that _anything_ would have changed, but clearly not. Closing his eyes tightly he focused on breathing slowly as his throat gradually tightened. Of course it wouldn't work, who would listen to crazy Harry Potter after all.

' _The increasing surge of people entering the central London area has been linked to the drought in the South-East; which has caused several farming communities to go bankrupt as crops have begun to fail-'_

His Uncle's voice could be heard booming loudly over the television, talking about the neighbour from next door ('With his bloody sprinklers on at three in the morning!') While his Aunt agreed loudly, carrying on about her disdain about some celebrity who had just gotten divorced.

Harry needed to get out of here.

Slowly making his way out from under the window, he stood up and began walking off down the street. Hoping that the air might clear his head.

His thoughts were all jumbled; flashes of Peter mixed in with bright green lights and some odd corridor that Harry had been seeing in his dreams as of late. He was pretty sure that even Professor Trelawney, in all her all-seeing brilliance, would be able to see that Harry was going mad.

Vaulting over a fence, Harry made his way to the park pausing as he saw his cousin hanging out with his "little friends".

'-See ya later Big D!' Piers Polkiss yelled as he left and Harry snorted. That nickname was new.

His cousin waved good-bye and pulled out a cigarette, as Harry waited until Piers' was out of view until he loudly announced himself.

'Hello Dinky-Diddyums!'

Dudley turned quickly, shooting a murderous look at Harry as he peered around for Piers'.

'How long have you been _Big D_ then?'

'Shut it,' Dudley snarled as he turned away.

'The name perfectly fits you! But it's incredibly misleading as well…' Dudley's hands clenched into fists as his face flushed bright red. 'But to me you will always be "Popkin" or "Ickle Diddykins"'

It appeared to take a great effort on Dudley's part as he refrained from punching Harry instead scowling at him and before he began to walk back home. Harry followed; knowing that any time after Dudley arrived home would be utterly unacceptable for his aunt.

'So,' Harry began as he caught up to Dudley, 'you've been " _messing"_ around with Piers' _Big D?'_ Harry smirked as his cousin flushed red.

'That's not what my nickname means!'

'I happen to agree Dudders. After all, beating up little kids, haggling five year olds for their lunch money…You must be compensating for something.'

'SHUT UP!' His cousin roared at him and Harry laughed, releasing all his bitterness and frustrations on his cousin. He'd pay for it later of course, but it was worth it. This was the only outlet he had.

'How about Little D instead? But I suppose that would be just as misleading as before-'

'You think you're so brave because you carry that _thing_ around with you,' Dudley interrupted.

'What _thing?'_

'That thing – that!' Dudley pointed at his pocket, where the handle of his wand was poking out just above his pocket.

'Oh! This _thing_!'

Harry pulled out his wand and turned it over in his fingers, watching with satisfaction as his cousin's face paled.

'You're not allowed to use it,' Dudley said at once, looking at it warily.

'How do you know Dud? Maybe they've changed the rules.'

'They wouldn't,' said Dudley though he looked unsure.

Harry smiled at his cousin as he put his wand away, deciding to let him ponder over that thought for a bit longer.

'You wouldn't fight me without it!' Dudley snarled suddenly, rounding on Harry who pulled his wand out again aiming at his fat neck.

'Of course I wouldn't Dudders,' Harry agreed. 'I'd need it to give you another pig tail. Might as well finish the job, I mean you're already half way there-'

'You just wait till I tell Dad that you had that thing out – '

'Is Ickle Duddykins scared of Harry?' Harry mocked.

'Your not usually this brave at night, are you?' Sneered Dudley; looking oddly triumphant as he looked at Harry.

'This _is_ night, Diddykins. That's what we call it when it goes all dark like this.'

'I mean when you're in bed!' Dudley snarled.

He had stopped walking. Harry stopped too, staring at his cousin; realisation dousing Harry in a feeling like ice cold water as he realized what he was talking about.

'I don't know what you're talking about.' Harry said stiffly, walking onwards as his cousin quickly followed.

'" _Don't kill Cedric! Don't kill Cedric!"_ Who's Cedric – your boyfriend?'

'Shut up!' Harry snarled as he walked faster.

'" _Dad! Help me Dad! He's going to kill me Dad! Boo Hoo!"'_

The mantra "Ignore Dudley" was being repeated over and over in Harry's head as he walked faster, trying to ignore the aching feeling building up in his stomach. All the loneliness, the anger, the fear, the blind rage that had built up over this past summer began to surge up again.

'Shut up Dudley.'

'" _Come and help me, Dad! Mum, come and Help me! He's killed Cedric! Peter killed Cedric! Help me – "_ Don't you point that thing at me!'

Dudley was backed into the alley wall as Harry shoved his wand in his face.

Years of bitterness and anger suddenly bubbled up; anger at his relatives for treating him like shit, anger at Pettigrew for ruining his life, anger at Voldemort for murdering his parents and hounding him for the rest of his life.

He had tried to make a difference and nothing had changed. _Nothing._

His hand shook as an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness overcame him.

' _Never speak of that again.'_ Harry snarled at Dudley who was looking at him in terror.

'Point that thing away from me!'

' _Do you understand me?'_

' _Point that thing somewhere else!'_

'I SAID DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME-'

Harry paused suddenly, as an ice-cold feeling ran through his body; the alley way was suddenly plunged into darkness, as Harry looked around panicked.

 _No._ They couldn't be here, not now.

Dudley was whimpering as he slumped down the wall, looking around in terror as Harry whirled around his wand ready. Was _this_ Voldemort's response to his bounty?

They'd come to kill him.

'Dudley, cover your mouth,' Harry said as he strained to see them in the dark.

From the other side of the alley two cloaked figures emerged and Harry staggered back as they approached. Dudley was cowering in fear, seemingly petrified as one of the Dementor's approached him.

'Expecto Patronum!' A faint silvery whisp emerged from his wand and was batted away effortlessly by the Dementor.

He desperately tried to grasp a happy memory, but panic fogged his mind as he began to hear voices.

" _You sold Lily and James Potter out to Voldemort! - It's Sirius! They're giving him the Dementor's kiss - Blood of the enemy, forcefully taken; You shall resurrect your foe – Bow to death Harry…"_

His thoughts drifted off as the Dementor approached, its rotting hands grasping either side of Harry's face, almost lovingly, as it lowered towards him…Sirius - he'd never be able to see him again.

With a start Harry used all his energy to pull away, falling to the ground as he tore his face away from the Dementor's hands.

'EXPECTO PATRONUM!' Harry bellowed, his mind whirling with Sirius' " _We'll be a family again"_ as his patronus burst from his wand.

Prongs immediately went for the Dementor, causing it to shriek as it retreated down the alley as it pursued him. Harry spared a glance at his cousin and felt his eyes widen in horror.

Dudley was lying sprawled on the ground as the Dementor hovered over him; it's hands trying to pry Dudley's hands off his mouth.

'GET HIM!' Harry roared as Prongs came back, charging at Dudley's Dementor.

With another shriek it fled into the night and Harry stood there stunned for a moment before realisation came over him.

Voldemort had tried to kill him. Here, in Little Whinging.

Dudley was still shaking as Harry ran over to him, pulling him up. The sound of someone running towards him had Harry spinning around, shoving his wand into the neck of Mrs Figg, the batty old cat lady from next door. Harry stammered for a few moments, at a loss of how to explain the situation when she suddenly began shrieking.

'I'M GOING TO KILL MUNDUNGUS FLETCHER! DIDN'T EVEN SHOW UP FOR HIS SHIFT! I BET THAT BLOODY MAN IS DOWN IN KNOCKTURN ALLEY TRYING TO SELL ALL HIS CRAP – '

'Knockturn Alley!' Harry burst out looking at Mrs Figg in shock. 'You know about-?'

'OF COURSE I KNOW!' Mrs Figg seemed to calm herself, though the murderous look in her eyes never lessened.

'You're a witch?' Harry was flabbergasted.

'Of course not, I'm a squib! Now help me with him.' She seemed insulted and Harry could only manage a grunt in response, his head whirling with that realisation. They tugged on Dudley's arms and with great difficulty managed to get him on his feet, slowly making their way down Privet Drive.

'Who's Mundungus Fletcher?' Harry asked after several minutes of silence, in which only the occasional grunt of exertion was heard.

'He was the bloody idiot who was supposed to be on watch – Oh I'm going to wring his neck when I next see him!'

'On watch?'

'Yes of course dear, looking after you.'

Harry abruptly stopped, causing Mrs Figg to stumble forward as the bulk of Dudley's weight suddenly shifted onto her.

'You've had people watching me all summer?'

'Not me dear no, it was Dumbledore!' She seemed surprised. 'Didn't you know?'

Harry fixed a grim smile on his face as he continued walking.

'No, I had no fucking clue.'

The conversation ended there.

Harry had people following him. People who would have seen how desperate he had been all Summer – hanging out underneath windows as he tried to get any news, searching through trash cans for newspapers…They had all known about how he was feeling. Harry didn't know if he was angrier at the fact that they did it or at the fact that they did nothing about it.

Mrs Figg was worriedly eyeing him from the side and he forcefully kept his head focused on the road. After several more tense minutes in which Harry's thoughts continued to spiral down darkly they arrived in front of Privet Drive and Mrs Figg gave Harry a nervous good-bye.

'I'll inform Dumbledore about this,' she said hesitantly. 'I'm sure he'll be able to do something about the underage magic infringement.'

Harry closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as he suddenly realised what he'd done. He'd used magic outside of school for a second time, which would result in his expulsion. Of course it had been in self-defence but Harry hardly thought that would make a difference now. Not after he had caused so much trouble with his declaration of Voldemort's resurrection and his bounty on Pettigrew.

'Fuck!' Harry growled as Mrs Figg hurried away. He hobbled over to the front door, which, not surprisingly considering his luck, was being opened by his Aunt at that exact same moment. They both stared at each other shocked, before the sound of Dudley vomiting broke the tension as Petunia started screaming.

 _Fantastic._

He had given his relatives no time to scream at him as he made his way up the stairs and back into his room, slamming the door with a bang as he let out a yell of frustration. Grabbing a quill he viciously began writing three separate letters, ignoring the concerned hoot that Hedwig gave him.

 _I've just been attacked by Dementors._

 _I hope you're all feeling cosy wherever the hell you are,_

 _It's been fucking fantastic where I am._

 _If I don't get any answers by tomorrow I will leave Privet Drive_

 _Harry_

He stared down at the parchment satisfied, before he stopped, they'd only send him some bullshit letter in response anyway. What was the point? With a scowl he threw the letters into the bin and sunk down in his chair as reality set in.

He had done magic outside of school again; he was going to get expelled.

He'd never play Quidditch for Gryffindor again, he'd never see any of his friends again, he'd never go to classes, he'd never do magic-

The door to his room suddenly burst open and Uncle Vernon stood there, his face purple as he shook with rage.

'WHAT DID YOU DO TO DUDDERS?!' He roared, his face wild with fury.

'I didn't do anything!' Harry snarled back, making Vernon's face turn a deeper shade of purple.

'LIKE HELL YOU DIDN'T! HE'S BEEN STUCK LIKE THAT FOR THE PAST TEN MINUTES! TELL ME BOY, WHAT DID YOU DO?'

'I DID NOTHING!' Harry roared back, glaring at the man hatefully.

Vernon made to reach for Harry but something akin to a bolt of electricity burst through Harry, making Vernon stumble back in pain and shock.

An odd tension arose between the two as they both glared at each other before Vernon suddenly slammed shut Harry's door, bolting it from the outside as his he lumbered back down the stairs.

Exhaustion gripped Harry then and he sat down shakily, running his hands through his hair.

What was he going to do now?

He supposed he could go and live with Sirius, wherever he was; with the way things were going with his relatives it was unlikely that he would last here for very long.

He continued to brood over this new problem when he suddenly remembered that he had never gotten his official notice from the Ministry. It had already been a half hour since he had performed the Patronus Charm and there had been no sign of a letter.

Harry groaned as he realized he'd have to stay up until it arrived, he wouldn't put it past Fudge to somehow make "Not immediately answering mail from the ministry" into some type of illegal crime. But ten minutes passed with no letter, then a half hour, and then finally Harry had been up for a total of two hours with no sign of any letter at all.

When Dobby had used the levitation charm it had only been a matter of a few minutes before he had been reprimanded; he had been waiting here for the past three hours and had heard nothing.

Ignoring the feeling of unease that had settled in his stomach because of this, he looked at the draft of Peter's bounty that was lying on his desk. So much for change Harry scowled as he viciously kicked his school trunk, flopping down on his bed.

Nothing's changed at all.

 **-oOo-**

 **The Ministry of Magic; Improper Use of Magic Office**

 **-7:56 pm**

Mafalda Hopkirk did not get paid enough to do her job.

On regular days it was bad enough, being forced to search through piles of reports about underage magic; dealing with little brats 24/7 as she sent out letters of warning to their homes.

But ever since that damned bounty had come in everything had gone to hell. The Improper Use of Magic Office had had no break since the beginning of this entire drama.

Their job, which was to ensure that the Statute of Secrecy remained upheld, had gone completely out the window as the entire department was assigned to do "damage control" as Amelia Bones called it.

The entire Ministry was in chaos as departments were reassigned duties in an attempt to try and contain the situation.

Mafalda was now stuck filing reports for the aurors, whose entire personnel had been assigned to active duty, leaving the rest of the Ministry to deal with _their_ paperwork. As if they did not have enough problems of their own!

It was her department that was responsible for cleaning up the mess the aurors left behind after all; obliviating muggles, falsifying data for their primitive investigations-that was all her! Just yesterday she had been forced to fake the details of some dog shelter being broke into because some idiot in Hackney decided to let loose their Crup's in some stupid attempt to find the man.

Emmerich Parkinson, the head of the Improper Use of Magic Office, was just as incensed as she was by this entire mess.

'Utterly disgraceful!' Parkinson had boomed after they had been informed of their change in duties. 'We shouldn't have to hold the DMLE's hand through this ridiculous investigation! It's absurd, we're already stretched thin as it is-every damn person in Britain has gone mad!'

Mafalda agreed and had loudly voice her approval of his statement. No body seemed to be doing anything besides trying to fix the damage caused in the past few days. The entire situation was ludicrous - Pettigrew was dead!

She should know, she was part of the cover up for the job, convincing the muggles that it was a gas explosion of all things. The carnage left behind from the scene had been horrendous; all that was left of Pettigrew had been a finger!

What sane person would put a bounty out on the man who had tried to avenge his parents?

This confirmed it. Potter was mad.

To make matters worse there was a shortage of personnel in every single department within the Ministry. Everyday more resignations came pouring in as people began to focus their attention on this ridiculous bounty hunt.

She had witnessed Tyler Patterson hand in his resignation that very morning, loudly telling everyone what he thought about them before he left the office with both his middle fingers up in some act of rebellion that he probably imagined was terribly witty.

Disgusting.

But really what else could you expect from a man like Patterson, Mafalda thought viciously as she stamped another report. He never took his job seriously, never seemed to understand the importance of their work in keeping the muggles at bay.

More then once he had spouted drivel around the office about allowing the muggleborns to use magic at home in front of their non-magical families, as if the entire point of their job was not to avoid that in the first place!

If the magical community were discovered by the muggles it would be chaos! She had reminded him of this fact a countless number of times, bringing up the Witch burnings of the 14th century as a prime example of what would happen should their world be exposed.

But he had always given her a sneer in return; patronisingly commenting that he never expected someone like _her_ to understand what he meant.

What did that even mean?!

She angrily signed off another report and shoved it into a box that she promptly banished to the other side of the room.

Mafalda bristled as she remembered what he had said to her, his face aglow with spite and venom as he made his way around the office.

' _-And you Mafalda!' Patterson had rounded on her as she watched on horrified. 'You sit there and smile so prettily. Always the nice one aren't you?' He snarled bitterly at her. 'But I've seen your sneers and seen the way you look down on me when I mention my birth. My father was a muggle and I'm fucking proud of it! That's right!' He turned to face the room at large, looking out on all the scandalized and shocked faces. 'My father was a muggle and because of that you all think you're better than me…Especially you Mafalda,' he turned and sneered at her. 'You act and pretend that you are kind and accepting of people like me but your not. No, at least other people had the courage to say it to my face, but you hide behind your little smiles and pretend that no one can see who you really are. You can hide behind all the make up you want Mafalda but it won't hide the fact that your blood is just as dirty as mine!'_

The man was clearly deluded-not right in the head at all!

She had needed to spend the next hour on damage control for her _own_ reputation.

Emmerich had been most helpful, loudly proclaiming after he left that her blood was as pure as his. Thank Merlin for men such as Emmerich Parkinson; she could only imagine how much worse off this country would be off without him.

With a sigh she returned to her work, grimacing as another auror entered with more files to go over. It seemed that she would be signing off requisition forms for the next four hours of her shift. The scratching of a quill shifted Mafalda's attention onto the Red Quill behind her.

The Red Quill, which recorded every underage magic infringement, stirred before it began scribbling down on a piece of parchment.

Urgh. It was just her luck that she'd grab the night shift with the auror reports _and_ some little brat's misdemeanour.

The parchment folded itself up and floated towards her, nudging her in the arm as she scowled at it. Muttering a quick 'Finite' at the piece of parchment, it floated down onto the desk.

She did not have time for this.

It was probably just some stupid minor shooting a jinx at their brother or the next-door neighbours dog anyway. With a sigh she flicked her wand and brushed the note aside, sending it into a box on the other side of the room that was helpfully marked "LATER" by Emmerich.

She'd sign off on it after this mess and give the kid a reprimand.

For now she had far more important things to do.

* * *

A/N- So as I said before things are a bit calmer in this chapter, but we'll get right back into the chaos in the next chapter as we see the bounty hunt officially begin!

Also the reason why Vernon hasn't gone completely mental at Harry is because all those owls didn't arrive like they did in the book. Harry's kept out of his way and as far as he knows has had nothing to do with what's wrong with Dudley. So he is slightly less angry at Harry. Only slightly though.

Mafalda Hopkirik, was who Hermione impersonated when they infiltrated the ministry in the DH. Since she was so cosy in her position working alongside Umbridge and Travers in prosecuting muggleborns I imagine that she most likely fit in quite well with their ideas since when the death eaters take over she just looks the other way. I find it hard to sympathize with any character who is associated with locking up muggleborns in Azkaban, so when I wrote her I tried to put in hints about the prejudice that she holds.

Emmerich Parkinson is indeed my interpretation of Pansy Parkinson's father. I imagine that he would come home from work each day and gossip about all the stupid things that kid's have done outside of school, then Pansy would go to school and mercilessly bully them about it. Such charming people.

Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer- Harry Potter and its respective characters belong to J.K. Rowling. Also part of this chapter uses direct quotes and semi-direct quotes from _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix;_ these lines belong to J.K. Rowling and were only used to advance the plot of the story.

Authors Note - Hello everyone! I want to say a huge thanks to all the amazingly wonderful people who have given me reviews and made suggestions. Thank you so much for taking the time to comment on my story, it means a lot to me to know that people are enjoying this! Also since I posted chapter 3 the number of favs and watches doubled! So thanks to all the new and old people reading - I mean it's a fantastic response!

(P.S I intend to respond to my reviews when I have time so I'll try to get around to it soon!)

So in this chapter we see what was going on in the day before Harry got attacked by dementors and we are introduced to one of the main OC's that will be in this story. This chapter was heaps of fun to write and I hope you enjoy it :)

* * *

 **Most Wanted: Peter Pettigrew**

 **2** **nd** **August 1995**

 **The Ministry of Magic; Atrium**

 **-8:37am**

Rufus Scrimgeour stood to the side of the atrium watching the rush of activity within the ministry with amusement. The atrium of the Ministry was a bustle of activity as last minute preparations for the morning's press conference took place.

Fudge had rather reluctantly agreed to partake in this event. He seemed to think that if he wished and ignored the problem hard enough that it would simply disappear. Then again it may also have a lot to do with the recent blow out he'd had with Lucius Malfoy. Rufus smirked, remembering the meeting between the two that had taken place last night.

He had been in the midst of giving Fudge an overall damage report for the day when Lucius had strode in, a furious look on his face, as he loudly demanded Fudge to stop this chaos.

'Minister, this entire _mess_ is making us the laughing stock of the entire magical community,' Lucius snarled. His eyes flickering out to the lobby where several people were frantically running about. 'How can we be expected to maintain some form of respect amongst our peers when the entire community is acting like complete fools?'

'My hands are tied Lucius,' Fudge sputtered. 'There's nothing I can do about this situation it is out of my control!'

'This entire display is disgraceful!' Lucius hissed, and Rufus noted with interest that it seemed to cause the man great pain to walk.

'And I'm sure you're asking purely because your interests lie with the well being of our standing within the magical community,' Rufus drawled, sarcasm dripping from every word. If Lucius was doing this _"out of the goodness of his heart"_ then Rufus was the Queen of England.

'This conversation does not include you, _Scrimgeour,_ ' Lucius snarled out in response and Rufus smirked.

'Neither did my meeting with the Minister include you, _Malfoy.'_

Lucius glared at him but seemed to bite back whatever snide remark was on his tongue in favour of returning back to his conversation with Fudge.

'Minister,' he began again patiently, ignoring Rufus' amused chuckle. 'This chaos must end-'

'Don't you think I know that?!' Fudge snapped suddenly; as Rufus watched with interest as Fudge, for what Rufus suspected was the first time in his life, stood up to Lucius. 'What do you think I've been trying to do all day Lucius! The statute of secrecy has been broken repeatedly, half of the staff didn't even bother to turn up, and I have had to have an entire floor of the Ministry bordered off just to make room for the letters I've been receiving! I'm not just sitting around here!'

A heavy silence descended in the room with Fudge looking rather apologetic as Lucius seethed with rage and Rufus sniggered.

With a final sneer Lucius turned and left the room, his cloak billowing behind him as Fudge shakily sat down at his desk.

'That went well,' Rufus had noted as Fudge groaned into his hands.

Lucius had declined to attend the press conference and Rufus felt a large flare of satisfaction rise up in him as he noted that Fudge's allies were growing fewer and fewer these days. The man himself was currently in a discussion with Weasley who was shoving several cue cards into his hands. Dear Merlin, the man was using _cue cards._

He hurriedly approached Rufus, glancing about nervously as he seemingly noticed the large turn out of people.

'What was the issue with Weatherby?' Rufus asked, watching Weasley as he walked off glumly.

'I asked him to write a letter to Potter-,' Rufus' eyebrows rose in amazement; this man was so amazingly stupid that it never failed to astound him at times.

'Potter? You're actually appealing to him?'

'No Weatherby-Weasley is,' Fudge said hurriedly looking rather unhappy. 'Well he was supposed to, apparently Delores said she'd deal with it.'

'Tell her to use her rose scented stationary; I've always found that one to be _especially_ persuasive.'

Fudge snorted with laughter before hurriedly looking around to make sure no one heard, the brief smile on his face instantly disappeared as he took in the crowd again.

Fudge seemed to be regretting this press conference already.

'I must be going Rufus, the Bulgarian Ambassador is waving at me – do make sure that you're ready.' With that Fudge hurried off, leaving Rufus to his own devices.

The panel consisted of Fudge, Amelia and himself of course; seeing as how Amelia and himself were heading the DMLE's investigation into this matter it was apparently compulsory that he attended. The rest of the people in the atrium were a mix of reporters, foreign dignitaries and rich people who felt they were entitled.

Rufus eyed Emmerich Parkinson with disdain, noting with satisfaction that the man seemed rather worn down. He supposed that the man had actually had to work for once; if the rumours were true then the Improper Use of Magic Office had been hit incredibly hard with the backlash of breaks in the statute of secrecy.

He glanced down at his pocket watch, 8:50, ten minutes left then. He spent a few minutes observing the crowd, nodding in greeting to Mad Eye who gave him a _grin_ in response.

Quite disturbing that.

The French Ambassador was quite pretty Rufus noted, watching her from the corner of his eye. Maybe he'd ask her out for a drink later… A loud cough to his right tore his attention away from her as he turned to greet Amelia.

'You prepared?' She asked, shooting him a smirk as he grinned in response.

'Of course Amelia.' He nodded, leading the way as they made their way up to the podium where they were going to be sitting. 'Far more prepared then Fudge anyway – the man has cue cards Amelia.'

Amelia groaned, a sound that Rufus was growing rather accustomed to lately, as she massaged her forehead.

'Please tell me your joking,' she looked at him pleadingly and he shook his head in response. Amelia and himself had been placed on either side of Fudge, probably so that they could prompt him should he get lost Rufus wryly thought as he took his seat.

'If I was going to joke Amelia it would be far more funny then that,' he paused. 'Do you know if the French Ambassador is single?'

She shot him a withering glare in response and he held up his hands in peace.

'The place is packed,' Amelia noted as they looked out onto the sea of robes before them. Many of them were already sitting in their seats and there was a palpable feeling of excitement in the air.

The odd one out was Xenophlius Lovegood who, of course, stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the rest of the crowd; his fluoro yellow robes and orange hat making Rufus blink his eyes several times.

Fudge looked incredibly embarrassed, his eyes flickering to the foreign dignitaries who had begun muttering and sniggering amongst themselves. Bless good old Xeno.

'I take it you invited Xenophilius Lovegood?' Amelia looked amused as she observed the man enthusiastically shaking the German Ambassadors hand.

'I believe we were instructed to invite " _all"_ the press Amelia.' Rufus answered, neither denying nor confirming her suspicions.

'His name was specifically mentioned as someone who was _not_ to be informed.' There was no reprimand in her voice rather she seemed quite pleased. The Quibbler was perhaps the only magazine in which Fudge had no influence after all. Even if his report did contain some mention of a Scrumble-horned Snorblack (or whatever it was called) it was still most likely to be the most unbiased and accurate account. That thought was actually rather scary when Rufus thought about it; they had truly fallen so much that the conspiracy magazine was now the best alternative.

'I'm sure it was an error.' He waved off, sniggering as the man began showing off his plum necklace to several other ambassadors who actually seemed to rather interested.

'Merlin! Who invited Lovegood…' Fudge mumbled as he approached giving Amelia and himself a grim smile. 'Are we all ready?'

'Ready to proceed Minister.' Amelia replied as Rufus grunted in agreement, tearing his eyes away from Xenophlius.

'Ahem, _Sonorous_ ,' Fudge pointed to his throat as he smiled at the assembled crowd who all quieted down. 'As we are all well aware we are here today to discuss the matter of-,' Fudge swallowed and grimaced, 'Peter Pettigrew's bounty.'

Immediately the reporters began firing off questions as every single hand within the atrium flew up. Fudge immediately became flustered and he seemed to flounder for a second before Amelia sighed and sent several red sparks into the air.

'We will answer questions one at a time and will not,' she fixed her eyes on the crowd, 'I repeat, we will _not_ act like rabid dogs fighting over a bone. You will stay quiet until the Minister addresses you, and if further elaboration is needed you may continue questioning at his leisure.'

With that Amelia sat down as the entire atrium was bathed in silence.

'Ah, quite right Amelia,' Fudge gave her a grateful look and Rufus barely contained his grin. If anything, Fudge had just proved in front of not only the foreign ambassadors but also the press that he was utterly incapable of doing anything without having someone hold his hand. Going by the rather unimpressed look the French Ambassador was giving Fudge it seemed Rufus' observation was correct.

Fudge began the conference by pointing down at a woman sitting in the front row; wearing robes of a lurid shade of pink that would have put Umbridge to shame.

'Emily Dorne, from the Daily Prophet Minister,' she stood up and beamed. Ah, here was the prophet here to save him.

'Is it true that the Ministry was considering taking down the bounty on Peter Pettigrew?'

Or not. Rufus was pleasantly surprised as he noted Fudge's displeasure at the question.

'I-,' Fudge floundered for a moment before he continued. 'Initially this was brought up a few times in early discussions – but this matter is purely in control by Gringotts!' He hurriedly continued, noting the many outraged faces in the crowd.

Well this was off to a _fantastic_ start.

'Minister Fudge! Elaina Dunbar from Witch Weekly!'

Rufus snickered; ignoring the warning look Amelia shot him. _Witch Weekly?_

'How are we supposed to know what Pettigrew looks like?' Dunbar asked.

'The DMLE is now distributing the most recent picture of Pettigrew that we can with updated posters,' Amelia answered.

'How recent? I though the man was supposed to be dead?' She pressed and Rufus was rather impressed with her. Leave it to the editor of Witch Weekly, of all things, to be the one with the most sense in the room.

'The picture was taken in 1981-'

'That's fourteen years ago!' Dorne exclaimed unhappily from the front. 'How are we supposed to know what he looks like now?'

'I'm sure the silver hand would be a give away,' Rufus answered dryly, smirking as she flushed red. Dunbar nodded as she sat down scribbling down on her parchment.

'Any more questions?' Fudge asked, his face falling as several hands still stayed up. 'You there, Mr?'

'John Brackenreid of Aurors Weekly' The man stood up and nodded in their direction.

Ah the crime magazine, this would be interesting.

'Since there is an ongoing investigation into Peter Pettigrew's whereabouts what does this mean about Sirius Black? The man was accused of his murder after all, are you implying that the man may be innocent?'

'We are implying nothing Mr Brackenreid, the sponsor of this bounty, Harry Potter however is.' Amelia hurriedly answered that question before Fudge could put his foot into his mouth. 'Next question,' Amelia continued, with such steel in her voice that Rufus doubted that any more questions about Sirius Black would be asked.

Amelia was reluctant to answer any questions about Black until they found the records of his case. They had apparently gone "missing" and Amelia had already spared as many people as she could to find the records of his case. Rufus found it to be rather suspicious himself, after all it was a high profile case; this was the man who had sold the Potter's out to Voldemort, who had unknowingly set into motion the events that would end his reign of terror. Things like that did not " _get lost in the system"_ as Fudge had implied when they had raised their concerns about tampering.

All in all, thinking about Black gave Rufus a bad taste in his mouth. If Potter was right and Pettigrew was alive…what if Black didn't do it? If they had sent an innocent man to Azkaban of all places - Rufus repressed a shudder at the memory of that place and focused back on the talks; listening as the Bulgarian Ambassador asked about how the bounty would be paid.

'I'm not entirely sure how this will be paid out-,' Fudge responded and Rufus noted with great interest that Xenophlius seemed to be hanging onto every word he said. 'You'd have to consult Gringotts, they are after all, the administrators of this bounty.'

'But zee reward money iz real?' the French Ambassador pressed eagerly.

'The reward money is real,' Rufus spoke up. 'We have been in talks with the Goblins and they have assured us that they would not have released this bounty if the sponsor was unable to pay it.'

Xenophlius Lovegood put his hand up immediately and Rufus nodded at the man to ask his question before Fudge could continue.

'Who exactly was involved in these talks? May we have names?'

Rufus looked to Amelia who shrugged; there was no harm in telling him who was there, after all.

'Myself and Director Bones have been involved in these meetings, and I believe the Minister has had his own as well' he replied at Xenophilius who gave him a thumbs up as he went back to scribbling. Well, that was odd.

'Juzt for clarifecazion,' the French Ambassador asked, looking at Fudge piercingly. 'We are talking about ze Harry Potter? Ze Boy who lived?'

Fudge looked as though he had swallowed something rather sour as he nodded.

'Ze's boy is implying that you 'ave a Death Eater on ze loose Minister-'

'We only have Potter's word that he is a Death Eater,' Rufus answered shooting a small smirk in Fudge's direction. 'There is no concrete proof at the moment besides his testimony.'

'And if eet is true?' She pressed and Rufus looked at her admiringly.

'Then he will be treated as any other Death Eater _should_ be treated: an automatic life sentence in Azkaban. If further investigation ties him to any other heinous acts then the Dementor's Kiss will be an option.'

'Come now Rufus,' Fudge looked at him rather reproachfully, his eyes flickering nervously over the crowd who was hurriedly noting down what he had said. No doubt Fudge was thinking about certain _friends_ who had once been accused of such crimes and were unjustly pardoned. 'An automatic sentence-?'

'The crimes that he has been accused of speak to a great deal of involvement in various hate crimes as well as the murder of Cedric Diggory,' Rufus continued undeterred. 'If he is found guilty of all such crimes the aurors office intends to persecute him to the full extent of the law.'

The French Ambassador nodded and sat down shooting him a smile, which he returned winking. A cough to his left made Rufus look to Amelia who was shooting him an amused, but warning glance as he turned his attention back to the conference.

Killjoy.

'Anyone else?' Fudge continued, looking unhappily at Rufus who raised an eyebrow in response.

'Minister!' Rufus repressed a snort with great difficulty as he noticed Xenophilius Lovegood waving at Fudge very enthusiastically, standing up to get his attention.

'I-um, yes?' Fudge reluctantly turned to Xenophilius.

'Xenophilius Lovegood from The Quibbler,' he began professionally and Rufus waited with bated breath. 'What do you have to say about the name "Cornelius 'Goblin-Crusher' Fudge?'

 _What did he just say?_

'I-,' Fudge looked taken aback and looked rather perplexed. 'I can't say I've ever heard-'

'Is it true that you intend to take over Gringotts in order to gain control over the Goblins personal gold stores?' Xenophilius offered Fudge no mercy as he ploughed on; Rufus felt as though he was having some odd out of body experience. This was not happening…was it? He spared a glance at Amelia who seemed to be in just as much shock as he was.

This was going _so_ much better then expected.

'Take over Gringotts?!' Fudge sputtered out.

'Rumours have stated that you have been unhappy with the Goblins cooperation with Mr Potter in this entire matter-'

Rufus would give Xenophilius that. He was not wrong at all…but " _Goblin-Crusher"_?!

'Of course I haven't!' Fudge exclaimed. 'This entire thing has made the whole country go mad!'

'Is it also true that you intend to use this entire matter as an excuse to further decrease the rights of Goblins in the wizarding world?'

'Of course not!'

'-Which is to aid your long-term plan of taking over the wizarding bank of Gringotts?'

'There are no such plans-'

'I have heard from several reliable sources that you have already used force in your pursuit to gain their gold-,' Xenophilius soldiered on as Rufus focused on his breathing. Do not laugh, do not laugh, do not laugh…

'Used force?!'

'They've claimed that you've had them drowned, dropped off buildings, poisoned, as well as cooked into pies-'

Rufus wheezed his sides aching as he muffled his hand over his mouth. On the other side of Fudge Amelia was in a coughing fit that sounded suspiciously like laughter.

'Baked into pies?!'

'Neither confirms nor denies allegations that he bakes goblins into pies…' Xenophilius muttered loudly as he hastily scribbled down on his notepad. Rufus' eyes began watering as he hastily reached for his drink, hoping that it might stop him from bursting out into laughter.

'Now hang on a moment!' Fudge exclaimed, his face bright red as he glared at Xenophilius. 'I do not bake goblins into pies!'

'You bake goblins into pies!' The Belgian Ambassador, who was a little hard of hearing, cried out shocked. 'HE BAKES GOBLINS INTO PIES!'

'No-no! I do not!' But no one seemed to hear Fudge's frenzied yells as the atrium erupted into screams.

'HE BAKES GOBLINS INTO PIES!'

Rufus spat out his drink and roared with laughter as the hall erupted in screams and horrified yells.

Inviting Xenophilius Lovegood had been the best idea he'd had in his entire life.

 **-oOo-**

 **Number 12 Grimmauld Place**

 **11:46am**

Members of the Order of the Phoenix were running in and out of Grimmauld Place constantly. All the auror members of the Order had been given a reprieve due to the overwhelming demands they now faced, while everyone else flitted in giving brief updates of the situation before returning to work.

The strain of the aurors jobs had increased to all departments with several areas being put on hold and reassigned to small support roles; the entire Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office (though not large to begin with, being only Arthur and Perkins) was currently heading an investigation into apparent sighting of Pettigrew in Kensington.

People were running in and out so frequently that Fred and George Weasley had started a betting pool for the next person to enter the house.

'5 sickles on dad,' George said as Emmeline Vance hurriedly exited Grimmauld Place.

'I'll bet 5 on Moody,' Fred replied as he scribbled down their bets.

'10 on Remus,' Sirius added, placing his coins down as they all leaned over the bannister, waiting for the next person to enter.

'5 knuts on Kingsley!'

'Ron, Kingsley hasn't come through in the past three hours.' Ginny said, eyeing his pile of money that had drastically decreased in the past hour.

'Well it'll be him this time.' Ron said certainly, shoving his knuts onto the pile as she rolled her eyes and Hermione scoffed.

'It's Professor Lupin!' Ginny cried out, pointing to the door where Remus Lupin had suddenly appeared.

'Pay up!'

'You're bleeding us dry here Sirius!' Fred grumbled as he passed him his winnings.

'Well since I can't go on the man hunt myself I'll have to be satisfied with taking your money.'

Sirius had been in the best mood that anyone had seen him in for a long time. The fact that his former best friend-turned-traitor was the most wanted man in wizarding Europe seemed to have given him a boost in his spirits.

'Sirius stop taking their money.' Remus reprimanded half-heartedly as he came up the stairs, leaning heavily on the bannister.

'We take our thrills where we can Remus!'

'Where'd you come from anyway?' George asked, giving Ginny 5 sickles as Hestia Jones came running in.

'Knockturn Alley,' he groaned, sitting down on the stairs with them. 'The place is completely over run, ten people have been sent to Saint Mungo's today because they've been trampled.'

'That's awful!' Hermione gasped horrified as Ron laughed.

'It's been brutal,' Remus agreed watching as Arthur ran by. 'I don't envy the aurors at the moment.'

'Anything interesting?' Sirius asked hopefully, shoulders drooping slightly as Remus shook his head.

'Nothing at the moment, I heard a rumour that Lucius was seen down in Borgin and Burkes yesterday morning though.'

'So we can assume that they knew before the prophet was released then.'

'It would seem that way.' Remus shot a warning look at Sirius, his eyes flickering to the teenagers sitting behind them, who were trying to look as though they were not listening.

'Oh come on Remus,' Sirius rolled his eyes, 'This is everybody's business, not just the Orders.'

'We'll agree on that.'

'It's Moody!' Ginny yelled suddenly, grabbing everyone's attention as she pointed down at the grizzled ex-auror who just entered the house.

'Pay up Ron!' George grinned as he scooped up the remaining knuts, halving them between himself and Hermione. 'Your winnings milady!'

Hermione took the coins and buried herself back into her book, ignoring the look of stunned betrayal that Ron sent her.

'BLOODY-'

'RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY,' Mrs Weasley's voice shrieked from the bottom floor, waking up Mrs Black. 'IF YOU FINISH THAT SENTENCE-'

The house erupted into a cacophony of screams, excited squeals (Sirius won two galleons off Fred) and stampeding feet as people continued to rush through the house. No one could say that life at Grimmauld Place was boring anymore.

 **-oOo-**

 **The Three Broomsticks**

 **-5:36pm**

Tyler Patterson was having the best day of his entire life.

He had quit his job, told the assholes he worked with what he really thought about them and had come up with the ultimate plan in which he would capture Peter Pettigrew and win the 100,000 galleon reward for his capture.

He grinned happily at everyone he met as he walked through Hogsmeade, heading towards the Three Broomsticks. It had taken him most of the day but Tyler had arranged for several friends to meet up so that he could reveal his ultimate plan to them.

He would assemble a team; and not just any team, a team made up of the brightest overlooked minds that the Ministry had to offer!

There was himself of course; the underappreciated, ex-senior Obliviator who had wasted nine years of his life in a dead end job run by blood purist jackasses.

Then there was his best friend Carlisle Durant; a twenty-two year old junior attorney within the International Office of Law and a Gryffindor through and through.

Baldwin "Addy" Wymark was also invited; the current director of the Invisibility Taskforce as well as a close friend of his mothers, a truly terrifying combination.

Audrey Tatham was a fellow co-worker who worked in the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad; a certified genius who spent her Saturday nights singing karaoke and watching reruns of Pride and Prejudice.

The last member of his intended team was Robert Hilliard; a socially awkward junior member of the Spirit Division, who Tyler had had to blackmail into hanging out with him.

Tyler felt his heart rate pick up in anticipation as he entered the Three Broomsticks, looking around hurriedly for his friends.

'Ah Patterson!'

He turned suddenly, grinning as he ran into Addy Wymark, who gave him a small smile as he shook his hand in greeting. Addy had been the man who had gotten Tyler his job in the Ministry in the first place; pulling his connections and favours (once a slytherin; always a slytherin) in order to get him into his job…the job he had just quit. Ah, Shit.

Tyler's smile faltered somewhat as Addy led him over to his table, nodding in greeting to the others seated around it. Everyone there was a fellow ministry worker, well not him. He had quit. Maybe he didn't think this through that much…

But he couldn't help it after all; he got caught up in all the commotion surrounding the bounty. This was his first chance, his first real chance in years to actually seize an opportunity that was given to him. His job at the Improper Use of Magic Office was going nowhere, not for him anyway. _Half bloods and Muggleborns_ never went anywhere in this Ministry, not when it was completely ruled by purist assholes like Emmerich Parkinson and Lucius Malfoy.

The only reason he had gotten his job was because Addy had blackmailed several high up officials into conveniently overlooking the fact that he had a muggle father. Catching Peter Pettigrew was his chance to knock those assholes out of the limelight, his chance to get some glory for himself. So this was his grand plan, to band together with the smartest people he knew and to catch Pettigrew.

'Now don't get me wrong I'm all for random booze nights,' Carlisle began, raising a glass in greeting to Tyler. 'But am I correct in assuming that there is a point to this random booze night?'

'You are correct!' Tyler grinned, grabbing his own drink as he smiled at the assembled group of faces.

God this was so cool.

'I have assembled you all here because us five are some of the most under appreciated and overlooked brilliant minds of the Ministry of Magic!' Everyone laughed and raised a glass to that; encouraged Tyler went on. 'For my whole life people have looked down on me because my father was a muggle! I have had to spend every day of nine years proving to people that I am worth a damn even thought my blood isn't _pure_!' Tyler turned to Carlisle who looked rather stunned at the venom in which Tyler spoke with.

'Carlisle here spends every Friday getting drunk because the attorney's office is so swamped in corruption and red tape that he can't do a damn thing about it!'

'I concur!' Carlisle replied, the shadow of a sneer passing over his face as he thought of his job.

'Robert is a genius!' He turned to Robert who was looking rather embarrassed. 'But he's stuck in a crappy, lower paid job because he's a muggleborn!'

'It's not that bad…I like my job,' Robert protested weakly as Tyler turned to Audrey, who looked excited as he prepared his speech for her.

'Dearest Audrey here works for the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad!'

'I do!' She agreed enthusiastically.

'She got twelve O's in her OWL's and passed her NEWT's with distinction, and look where she is now-'

'Yeah! Look at where I am!'

'-Jackasses like Percy Weasley, people who are in the Minister's pocket, are given the better jobs while the rest of us are left to claw our way to the top!'

'Those assholes,' Audrey agreed, suddenly looking incredibly angry as she dwelled on her junior position within the ministry.

'Addy!' Tyler turned to face the man who looked rather amused by his entire display. 'Addy is…' Tyler trailed off as he thought. Addy was a pureblood, Slytherin, from a rich family, and was the director of the Invisibility Task Force. Really he didn't have that much to complain about.

'Addy is an upstanding gentleman surrounded by assholes!'

'Hear hear!' Carlisle yelled; drawing the attention of everyone in the bar as Tyler hurriedly shushed him.

'But no longer,' Tyler continued, 'We are going to earn respect and glory, for all of us!' He paused for dramatic effect. ' _Because we are going to catch Pettigrew_ ,' Tyler sat back smugly downing the rest of his drink as he waited for the genius of his plan to sink in.

'That's your grand plan?' Addy looked at him incredulously as he snorted.

'It's a damn good plan! We are going to find the bastard-'

'You and every other person in this damn country - and out of it!' Carlisle pointed at the group of German "tourists" who were excitedly talking together in a corner; pouring over maps as they began planning where they would search.

'Well _we_ are going to catch him!' Tyler was rather upset that they were not as enthusiastic as he was about this. 'And then _we_ are going to split the money five ways; 20,000 each!'

'But he's _dead,_ ' Robert stressed, looking at them all as though they were all mad.

'I don't care if he's dead!' Tyler snapped at him. This was not going at all like he had planned.

'But-'

'Shhhhhh,' Tyler held a finger in front of Robert who looked as though he wanted to argue. 'As I said before,' Tyler began anew looking at them all rather sullenly. 'We, as in us,' he motioned between the lot of them. 'Are going to find; like hide and seek find,' he ignored the rather insulted looks they were shooting his way at the patronising tone in which he was addressing them. 'Peter Pettigrew.'

He looked at them all sternly before groaning as Robert began talking again.

' _BUT HE'S DEAD!_ '

'I don't give a fuck that you think he's dead,' Tyler growled at Robert repressing the need to throttle him. 'Because there is a 100,000 galleons out there that says you are wrong and we are all going to find him and get the money and live like Kings – and or Queens,' he nodded to Audrey and Carlisle, the latter who gave him the finger in response.

Silence descended on the table as Tyler glared at the lot of them. Honestly he had expected them to be at least a little bit excited about this – maybe not Robert, because he's _Robert_ – This was the largest thing to happen to the wizarding community in years after all; besides that dud of a tournament that occurred nine years _after_ he left Hogwarts.

Assholes.

'I'm all for looking for the man Tyler,' Audrey began, 'but if we do this we'll have to organize specific times so that it doesn't clash with any of our jobs-'

'Here is the genius of my plan,' Tyler interrupted her, 'most people will be searching in their spare time anyway, if we do this full time-'

'Quit our jobs?!' Robert burst out scandalized. 'Tyler you said it yourself, I've slaved for two years just to get a junior position in the Spirit Division – I'm not just going to go and quit!'

'Mate,' Carlisle began patiently and Tyler rolled his eyes at the inevitable reprimand that was coming his way. 'I know you've got your heart set on getting this 100,000 galleons but-' he paused, looking at Tyler critically. 'You've quit your job, haven't you?'

Tyler avoided looking anywhere near Addy as he nodded, grimacing as he heard Audrey and Robert gasp in shock.

'I was never going to go anywhere there anyway,' he looked pleadingly at Addy who was massaging his forehead. 'People like Parkinson and Mafalda have the place on a leash – there's no hope for people like me.' Tyler sighed as the enthusiasm began to wear off.

'I quit my job too,' Carlisle said suddenly, making Tyler look at him in shock.

'Come on Tyler, you're not the only one to come up with this grand plan,' Carlisle grinned at him. 'Of course I'm coming along -100,000 galleons! You'd be mad to not go looking for him.'

'Who else is in?' Tyler looked hopefully at the rest of them as the table descended into silence.

'I'm in,' Addy said first, breaking the silence, 'Not like I have anything better to do with my time anyway.'

'That's the spirit Addy!' Tyler beamed at the man, clapping loudly.

'It does sound fun,' Audrey agreed; ignoring Roberts incredulous scoff. 'Count me in too!'

'This is ridiculous!' Robert stood up as he looked at them all as though they were mad. 'You're all going to quit your jobs to go searching for a man who is _dead_ to win 100,000 galleons that you'll end up splitting five ways anyway!'

'It'll only be five ways if you join us,' Tyler said grinning widely at Robert.

It was silent for a moment; Robert looking at Tyler stubbornly before his shoulders fell in defeat, giving Tyler a reluctant grin.

'They don't pay me enough to deal with Percy Weasley everyday anyway,' he admitted, shrieking as Audrey tackled him into a hug. 'And clearly I'm the only one here who has any sense!' He continued as soon as he got out of her grasp.

The table roared with approval as Audrey shoved another glass of firewhisky in his hand. Tyler nodded to Madame Rosmerta who gave him a smile as she went to get more drinks.

'So where are we starting?' Audrey asked eagerly as their third round of drinks arrived.

'Where else does one look for a rat,' Tyler began as he smirked at his assembled team. 'But in the sewers?'

Tyler snorted as everyone's face fell in disgust. Part one of his plan: Assemble a team to catch Peter Pettigrew was complete. Now there was only Part 2 left, catching Peter Pettigrew.

They had this in the bag.

 **-oOo-**

 **Gwydyr Forest, Wales; The United Kingdom**

 **-11:24pm**

Eric Petrov was dying.

He was currently lying in a pool of his own blood, looking up into the night sky; the warmth of the air doing nothing to aid the shivers that now wracked his body.

His wand – " _14 inches, yew, unicorn hair and phoenix feather; very firm, good for transfiguration and charms" –_ was laying a metre away from him, snapped in half. Eric could make out the bright gold of the feather, poking out from wood as it lay amongst the grass. He also recognised the man who was sneering at him, holding a now blood splattered copy of Pettigrew's bounty in his hand.

It was Fenrir Greyback.

The man's face was one of the posters that had always been tacked up in the aurors office, smirking down at him as he bared his teeth at anyone who passed. The others aurors used to play darts with all the old wanted posters from the First Wizarding War – " _Come on Eric! Give it a go!" –_ the yellowed parchment littered with holes and tears as the darts tore into it. _He'd gotten Bellatrix Lestrange in the head and the entire office had roared in approval as they shoved another drink into his hands…_

He coughed, blood spurting up past his lips as he weakly tried to sit up, falling back down as his strength began to leave him.

He'd been so stupid – _"I overheard Bones with Scrimgeour, they think he's with the werewolves."_ – He came alone – _"Come off it mate, that's just some bullshit story going around the office. I heard from Higgins that someone's seen him down in Australia for Christ sake!"_ – Why did he come alone?

'What are you gonna do about the auror?' The other werewolf who accompanied Greyback asked, looking at Eric fascinated.

'We'll leave him here; he hasn't got much longer.'

Scrimgeour had said that the man was more wolf then human now; Eric supposed that he could sense him dying. The smell of blood was strong in the air and Eric could taste its bitterness on his tongue – _"Honestly darling, you need to be more careful when you climb trees! One day you'll get worse then a scraped knee"_ \- He had no idea that there was so much of it in him…

'Then what?' The Werewolf continued, circling around Eric's body. 'What if the other aurors come looking for him? They'll know it was us! They'll-' There was a whimper as Greyback smacked the other werewolf on the back of his head, snarling at the man to shut up.

'Then they'll know that they should keep off our land,' Greyback snarled looking down at Eric. He raised his foot and stomped on Eric's wound making him gasp out in pain as black dots flared in his vision.

'Everybody has a place in life and _everybody_ should respect it' Greyback knelt to look Eric in the eyes. 'Even the _Big Bad Aurors_.'

Eric glared at the man; a sudden surge of strength coursed through him and he spat into Greyback's face. A sharp backhand caught his face a moment later, sending Eric reeling as the world began to spin. Gasping for air, his hands twitching as his breaths came fewer and farer in between…

'Though I suppose we should be grateful Dalton,' Greyback turned to his companion as he passed him the poster; wiping off Eric's blood as it ran down his cheek. 'He has given us some valuable information after all.'

Panic surged through Eric as he tried to move – _He heard a sound behind him in the brush and turned, wand at the ready when something tore through him; knives danced across his skin as the air was knocked out of him, sending him sprawling on the ground –_ this was all his fault.

A sharp kick to the ribs made him double up in pain as he heard something crack; there was too much pain now, he couldn't tell what was hurting and what was not…

'See as much as Potter wants Pettigrew I know of someone who will want him just as much,' Greyback smirked at Eric whose panicked mind tried to fit the pieces together; Black's escape, the Triwizard tournament, Crouch's death, Jorkins' disappearance, Diggory's death, the bounty…

 _Potter was telling the truth._

'I wasn't sure when I'd get back in touch with him mind you, but now you've given me a good reason,' Greyback knelt down again and grasped Eric's face painfully turning it to look him in the eyes. 'After all this sum is nothing in comparison to what the _Dark Lord_ will give me when I deliver Pettigrew back to him.'

With that he released his hold on Eric, giving him a final smirk as he turned and walked away, his companion following closely behind him.

Eric looked up at the stars one final time; watching them go out one by one.

* * *

A/N - It started out so nice and then went downhill so fast didn't it? So here we are introduced to Tyler and a few more OC's that will be reoccurring within the story at odd occasions…except for Petrov. Petrov's dead. Poor Petrov :(

I loved writing Xenophlius Lovegood, that scene is my favourite out of everything I've written so far. I will definitely be having him pop up throughout everything; Xenophlius makes everything at _least_ 500% better.

For anyone who's interested here's a bit of background info about the OC's:

Tyler Patterson: 26, Hufflepuff, half-blood, Ex-obliviator

Baldwin "Addy" Wymark: 34, Slytherin, pureblood, Director of the Invisibility Taskforce (he keeps places like Hogwarts and Azkaban hidden from muggles)

Carlisle Durant: 22, pureblood, Gryffindor, junior attorney within the International Magical Office of Law

Audrey Tatham: 18, pureblood, Ravenclaw, member of the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad

Robert Hilliard: 20, muggleborn, Ravenclaw, junior member of the Spirit Division (works with ghosts and defends their undead rights...HP Wiki explains it way better)

These are the last OC's that will be introduced in the story, besides a few nameless people who may die etc...But Tyler is the main one who we will follow as he goes searching for Peter.

And as a last note (this is the last one I swear :P) I've been going over my story and found that there has not been much "friendship" in it yet, so I'm considering changing the genre to either humour or drama...any opinions on what to change it to would be welcome!

Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer- Harry Potter and its respective characters belong to J.K. Rowling. Also part of this chapter uses direct quotes and semi-direct quotes from _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix;_ these lines belong to J.K. Rowling and were only used to advance the plot of the story.

Authors Note- First off, sorry for my absence! I had a mini-holiday, a birthday party and a 4th of July party (my uncle's American so even we celebrate it in Australia!) which left me with very little time. Also there's the fact that this chapter is in part a 1 of 2 since there's a lot that Harry has to catch up on! So on the bright side the second part will be up in the next few days after I do a few tweaks with it. As always I want to say thank you to all my readers! With my last chapter I reached past 11,000 views, 200 favs, and 300 alerts - which is utterly incredible!

I also want to do a shout out to two amazing people: **"Slytherin66"** for your amazing reviews (I always look forward to reading your comments and suggestions!) and **"harryfan160889"** who wrote a story _based on my story_ which is amazing and such a big honour to me as a writer! I suggest you go check it out, it's in my favourites list or search **"Ministry's Mistakes Exposed"**!

* * *

 **Most Wanted: Peter Pettigrew**

 **3** **rd** **August 1995**

 **Hogwarts; Headmaster's Office**

 **-2:24pm, Thursday**

Looking back on the past month Albus Dumbledore really should have expected this.

He had obviously expected Harry to react poorly to his decision to keep him out of the loop; the boy was nothing if not curious as his escapades over the past four years had proved. At the most Albus had expected resentment, which he had been hoping for, as it would be easier for him to distance himself from Harry in the long run. The connection between Harry and Voldemort was now stronger then ever with the blood that Voldemort now possessed and should his suspicions about the boy be proven then it would be prudent that he sever the connection between them both as quick as possible.

Not that it was an easy thing to do at any rate; he had grown rather fond of Harry over the years and the boy had gone through enough trouble without Albus adding to it. Such was why his decision to keep Harry uninformed was so important, so he could let Harry remain a child for as long as he could.

 _How could anyone go through what he has and remain a child?_

A voice whispered in the back of his mind and Albus grimaced in response. His convictions on this matter had been shaken by Harry's brash declaration of war on Peter Pettigrew…what if he was ready to hear the whole truth?

Harry's actions had begun something far bigger then Albus believed that Harry realized. At the most he expected to be able to free his godfather, to get the truth of Voldemort out to the public but the reality was not so limited. For the first time in many years people were beginning to question the legitimacy of their own governments. They were questioning the prophet, their history, their place in the world and themselves. Harry had started not only a manhunt, but also the beginning of a new train of thought that seemed to be gaining strength.

 _Question everything._

While the chaos had admittedly caught him at a loss there was some good to come out of it, his eyes flickering to the red report that was on his desk. In the midst of all the chaos it was easy for the Ministry to overlook such a small thing like an underage magic infringement.

It had been relatively simple, finding his way into the Ministry – _his_ disillusionment charm was no match for anyone there, especially sleep deprived and coffee reliant ministry workers. It had been a simple matter of a performing Confundus charm on the doorman, before he made his way through the relatively deserted Improper Use of Magic Office and simply grabbed it from a box that had been helpfully marked as "LATER". His original intention when he went there was too delay the notice and hopefully rectify any mistake before Cornelius was informed, but it seemed that Harry had once again manage to fix that problem as well.

'Tired?' A voice sounded to his left and Albus smiled good-naturedly at the Sorting Hat, who had taken the sudden turn of events in its stride. Not that a hat could stride, but it was a rather fitting term for how it had reacted to the entire situation Albus mused.

'Alas, I fear we are nowhere near the end of this,' Dumbledore lamented, looking down at the pile of reports he had received from the Order.

'Not by a long shot I'd wager,' the Hat chuckled.

The door to his office suddenly opened, banging on the wall as Minerva strode in; her face flushed red as she glowered at him, her arms full of letters.

'Albus.'

He knew that tone. It was the same tone she had when he had told her about the Philosophers Stone…and the Dementors…and the Triwizard Tournament. That tone did not bode well for anyone involved.

'Lemon drop?' He said pleasantly, ignoring the glare she shot him as she slammed a pile of letters onto his desk.

'No,' she said shortly as Albus smiled, popping one into his mouth. 'What do you intend to do with all of Mr Potter's letters?'

'The letters will be given to him when he arrives at headquarters this evening,' Albus smiled, chuckling as Minerva snarled at the pile of parchment. 'Though perhaps not this very evening, I'm sure he'd appreciate having some time to settle in before we dump five hundred or so letters on him.'

'They keep on coming!' She huffed, 'Why did you have to direct them here of all places Albus!'

She knew why of course, this had been the main topic of discussion between them for the past three days. Luckily Kingsley had been able to inform him of the bounty early enough that he could divert Harry's mail to a far more secure location, Hogwarts.

'Several of these letters have been cursed Minerva,' Albus looked at her over the top of his glasses as she sniffed unhappily. 'One underage wizard, no matter how brilliant, does not have the resources to examine each letter individually to determine whether there are any foul or harmful curses present.'

'Also,' he continued more cheerfully, 'I severely doubted that his guardians would take kindly to having several hundred owls arrive on their doorstep.'

'You had no problem with that before,' she said dryly, clearly remembering the incident in first year.

Albus chuckled in remembrance of that event, it had been amusing to come up with different ways in which to deliver Harry's letters; Filius still regarded his charm work in placing letters within Petunia Dursley's eggs as being some of his finest work.

'Times are not the same anymore,' he noted softly, his eyes flickering to the copy of Peter's bounty.

'Indeed,' she agreed quite briskly, the smile dropping quickly. 'There is a meeting tonight?'

'Yes at seven-thirty tonight, only a short meeting,' he assured her as she relaxed. 'Mr Potter should arrive just before it starts and Kingsley will update us on the DMLE's current progress.'

'Have you had any lead on the Dementors?' She asked worriedly and Albus frowned.

The issue with the Dementors had worried him considerably, as well as the rest of the Order. When he had been informed of the matter he had initially been furious with Mundungus, his blind greed could have cost Harry his soul or any of the other innocent people who lived on Privet Drive; he had decided to let him go with a firm warning however after the combined spell work of Molly Weasley, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Alastor Moody had required him to seek medical attention at Saint Mungo's. The attack however was a definite sign that Harry life was in direct danger from forces within and outside the Ministry.

'I do not believe they were a direct attack from Voldemort,' he admitted, 'but I do believe that this event was linked to the bounty.'

'You think that someone within the ministry ordered this?' she said horrified. 'Do you believe Lucius-?'

'No, Voldemort-' He ignored her flinch, 'intends to keep quiet about this; to murder Harry, especially straight after the announcement of his bounty would bring far too much attention to him and his followers.'

'The public would instantly suspect Lucius and his crowd,' Minerva agreed though she did not look any happier. 'You do not intend to alert Amelia to this?'

'And let Cornelius know of his underage magic infringement?' Albus raised an eyebrow at her. 'Cornelius is already at his wits end in trying to find ways to discredit Harry without having the public turn on him. I'd rather not give him any more ammunition then he already has; Cornelius has never been particularly bright but he has a high sense of self-preservation, and so do his allies. They will do all in their power to try and ruin Harry.'

Minerva seemingly weighed the benefits in her mind before she sighed reluctantly and nodded.

'Will Mr Potter be included in the meeting tonight?'

'No,' he replied shortly, his eyes flickering to the bounty on his desk. 'There is no need to preoccupy Mr Potter with the workings of the Order Minerva. Let him remain oblivious to the dangers for a while longer.'

'Oblivious Albus?!' Minerva looked at him rather disgusted to his surprise. 'I think the poor boy is tired of being oblivious,' she picked up the bounty and waved it in his face, 'or is this not enough proof! It's a cry for help Albus! You left him alone with those _people_ with a killer on the loose, and no contact with the outside world! I believe he's proved himself to be more then ready enough to face the dangers involved with the Order.'

Minerva was voicing a new opinion that was growing strong within the Order, an opinion that could be summarised as Moody had summarily put it as " _Tell Potter before he causes any more trouble."_

Of course Sirius and Remus had been pushing for informing Harry since the reformation of the Order, only recently had the auror members (mainly Kingsley) decided to push for this as well. Albus removed himself from these thoughts as Minerva glowered at him and he sighed.

'Mr Potter will not be informed until it is deemed necessary,' he said finally and Minerva snorted disdainfully, throwing her arms in the air as she left the room, the door to his office slamming shut.

'I almost put him in Slytherin,' the Sorting Hat began conversationally, speaking up from its perch on his shelf where it surveyed the discussion with amusement.

'I am aware,' Albus replied, 'you mentioned that he asked you to place him in Gryffindor.'

'No, he _convinced_ me Albus,' the Hat chuckled. '"Not Slytherin" was what he said, not "Put me in Gryffindor".'

Albus sat back thoughtfully, his mind whirling with flashes of a small little boy with bright green eyes and messy black hair.

'After all,' the Hat continued, 'The true Slytherins' never get _put into_ Slytherin.'

 **-oOo-**

 **Surrey; Number Four Privet Drive**

 **-6:38pm**

Harry woke up to the sound of a door banging shut and a lot of loud cursing.

Blearily looking around his eyes focused onto his clock, 6:38; he'd only been asleep for a half hour then. It wasn't as if there was much else he could do at the Dursley's at this point, all his homework was done and there wasn't _anything_ to look forward to besides the beginning of next term. Thinking of the Dursley's made Harry pause…who was here then?

The Dursley's were out for the night, attending some lawn competition they'd apparently won. After the outburst yesterday Harry had been confined to his room all day again, only being let out in the afternoon for a quick break before Vernon had roughly shoved him back in and locked the door. Hedwig had also disappeared on him, not returning from delivering a letter he sent to Sirius that could be roughly summarized as "GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE".

The fact remained that no one should be in the house at this time besides him and that he was now locked in here.

A feeling of unease settled in Harry's stomach as he grabbed his wand. Of course he could do magic to get out of here but Harry was unwilling to tempt fate anymore then he already had, especially since his magic infringement notice seemed to have disappeared – _Thank God –_ off the face of the earth.

'Look at how clean this house is! Are you sure that two teenage boys live here?' A feminine voice called out, coming closer towards his room. 'There's locks on this door…you don't think?'

There was a small shuffle outside his door and Harry held his wand tightly as a number of small clicks sounded, signalling the unlocking of his door.

If she was a Death Eater then it was a clear sign that Voldemort's standards had drastically changed from the aloof, elitist Lucius Malfoy to the kind of comic book villain he'd see on a muggle TV show…she had bright _pink_ hair.

'Wotcher!' The feminine voice grinned in greeting, before she faltered slightly as her eyes snapped onto the cat flap on the bottom of the door. He noticed with alarm that her hair changed abruptly from pink to a dull shade of blue and stepped back in surprise as "Mad-Eye" Moody emerged from around the corner.

The Moody he had come to know had been a Death Eater who had tried to murder him and had successfully aided in murdering Cedric. To say he was feeling alarmed was an understatement. He'd already had Dementors sent to kill him, what if Voldemort had used polyjuice potion again to try and get at him? Harry's hand never faltered as he kept his wand trained on them, particularly keeping it focused on Moody.

'Potter,' Moody nodded, 'Dumbledore sent us, we're here to collect you and bring you to safety.'

'Forgive me if I don't believe you,' Harry snarled at him, 'I've had a few bad incidents with mistaken identities, I'd rather not have a repeat.'

'Bit twitchy isn't he?' the woman said amused, before her smile fell. 'Is this your room?'

'Remus!' Moody suddenly called as Harry's wand snapped back to him, 'Potter's up here, come and calm him down won't you?'

There was the sound of multiple hurried footsteps as more people made their way up the stairs, stopping to gawk at his door and then him. Of course, why would he expect any different? A black haired witch at the back muttered the same old, " _Looks just like his father, but has Lily's eyes"_ bullshit that followed him around everywhere as his temper finally snapped.

'Come to have a good look have you?' Harry didn't bother trying to cover his bitterness as he glared at the people outside his door. 'Come to see how the _famous_ Harry Potterlives?' He held out his hands and motioned to the cramped space that was his room in a sarcastic motion of grandeur.

'Take a picture! Maybe you could send it to the Prophet, I'm sure everyone would love to see how the _great_ Boy-Who-Lived lives!'

'Move out of the way please Hestia,' a familiar voice said as Harry's heart stopped.

'Remus?'

'Harry!' Remus pushed his way forward past the shocked group of people before he stood in the doorway smiling widely. Any bitter remarks went out the window as he smiled back, his wand lowering slightly as Remus entered the room, stopping as Moody held an arm out.

'We should make sure he's the real Potter,' he growled, ignoring Remus who rolled his eyes.

'I would've imagined that Harry's speech a moment ago would be proof enough,' Remus said dryly before he turned back to Harry. 'What creature was in my office the first time you visited?'

'A grindylow,' Harry answered immediately before he fired his own question. 'What do I hear when I'm near Dementors?'

'Your parents last moments.'

They stared at each other for a moment before Remus suddenly hugged him tightly as Harry froze. The only people he could remember ever hugging him had been Hermione and Mrs Weasley, and Harry could only pat him awkwardly on the back as Remus straightened up his cheeks slightly red.

'Sorry, It's been a long time,' he explained, 'and there's a lot to talk about. Let's get you ready, we'll be leaving soon.'

'We're leaving?' Harry asked hopefully, his spirits soaring as Remus nodded. 'What about the bounty I made?' He continued frantically, 'has it done anything? I haven't had news in the past three days.'

'You've certainly done something,' Remus chuckled, before looking over his shoulder and nodding at a grumpy looking Moody.

'Be quick with the introductions we don't have much time,' Moody said gruffly as he made his way downstairs and Harry watched him go warily. If there was one thing he learnt from last year it was "CONSTANT VIGILANCE" after all.

'You've met Mad-Eye,' the pink haired witch spoke as Remus pushed him out the door, waving his wand and packing all of Harry's belongings into his trunk. 'I'm Tonks!'

'Harry,' he replied as she grinned, tugging him down the stairs as everyone filed down. 'You coming Remus?' Harry turned back to see him staring at something rather intently in his room, before he waved him off as Tonks yelled at him to be quick.

'So that's Hestia,' she pointed to the black haired witch, 'and Dedalus-'

'I know you!' Harry blurted out, smiling at the man who jumped in excitement; he remembered the man knocking his hat off when he first went to Diagon Alley.

'And that's Kingsley-' Tonks was cut off by Remus who had abruptly turned Harry around and gripped him by the shoulders.

'Why are there locks on your door?' He asked Harry calmly.

Ah, Fuck.

'They commonly keep doors shut,' Harry replied, grimacing at the glare that Remus shot at him.

'Try again. How about, why was there a cat flap on your door?'

'For my cat,' Harry blurted out, wincing as Remus gave him a look of disbelief.

'You have a cat?'

'Yes?'

'Was that a question?'

'No?'

' _Harry_ -'

' _Remus,_ look I can say your name patronisingly too!'

Remus hands twitched and shot him a look that clearly stated " _we are talking about this later."_ Though all his life Harry had yearned to have some type of parental figure, suddenly he was feeling a lot more apprehensive about it.

'Really Remus it isn't that bad, it keeps them away from me as much as it keeps me away from them.'

Judging by the look on Remus' face that was not the best thing to have said.

'It's not that bad!' Harry pleaded with him. He was stuck in an odd paradox where he wanted everyone to know about how the Dursley's treated him, yet at the same time wanted no one to know at all. Remus happened to be one of those people who he did _not_ want to know. One of the main reasons he had posted his bounty had been because he wanted to get away from the Dursley's, to go and live with Sirius and Remus and just get away from here… _without_ all the questions.

'That room is far better than-' Harry cut him self off mid-sentence as Remus looked at him suspiciously.

'Better than?'

'Nothing,' Harry said shortly as he turned away. There was no way he was mentioning the cupboard to Remus.

'The letter Remus?' Dedalus asked hesitantly, and Harry looked up to see Remus breathing deeply as he calmed himself.

'What letter?' Harry asked, looking between them both, rather annoyed at the fact that he was _still_ out of the loop.

'It was supposed to explain to your aunt and uncle about where you've gone, and also to say that you'll be returning next year,' Remus said with an odd aura of calmness as he took out the letter and set it on fire. 'I don't believe it will be necessary anymore however,' he shot Harry a smile that was a little too enthusiastic. 'Do you have anything else here? Anything you want to take?'

'No,' Harry shrugged at his trunk, 'everything I own is in there.'

'Let's get going then,' Hestia interjected gently pushing Harry out of the house as Moody began shuffling everyone out gruffly.

'How are we-?'

'We're flying there,' Hestia answered, handing him his broom.

'Where are we-?'

'Tell you when we get there!'

'You know I believe you were right Tonks,' Remus said outside looking at the pink haired witch intently. 'The house is a little too _clean,_ isn't it?'

'Couldn't agree more Remus!' Tonks agreed, smirking. 'Oi, Mad-Eye!' She suddenly called up front, making the ex-auror snarl at her to shut up as she shrugged unapologetically. 'Me and Remus are gonna make sure we _locked up_ alright in there.'

Moody smirked, and Harry grimaced slightly as he remembered Crouch Jnr sending him that exact same look, as he nodded at Tonks.

' _Be thorough!'_

'There's a spare key behind the family photo,' Harry called out and Tonks waved him off, following Remus into the house. He frowned as he watched them enter, unnerved by the look of fierce determination on Remus' face. Several minutes later a smug and vibrantly red headed Tonks emerged, followed by Remus who was tugging the sleeves of his shirt down smiling happily at Harry.

'All done Alastor!' Remus called up front as he mounted the broom, mouthing "later" at Harry who was looking at him questioningly before he turned back to Tonks. He could barely make out whatever they were whispering to each other, but he managed to hear the end of what Tonks was saying.

'…Put a barrier charm on the toilet, the next time one of them goes to take a piss-' She made an exploding sound as Remus snickered, before he coughed and straightened up. Harry looked at her in awe as she laughed, imagining the look on Aunt Petunia's face when the toilet backed up and exploded.

'Potter,' Moody gruffly called him and Harry whirled around to look at him apprehensively, eyeing the wand in his hand. After all, a few months ago that wand had tried to kill him. 'Need to do a Disillusionment Charm,' he explained as Harry edged away, looking to Remus who noticed his discomfort and came over.

'I've got it Moody,' he nodded as he tapped his wand on Harry's head, making him squirm as cold trickles began running down his body. 'Feel odd?'

'Yeah, what-,' Harry paused as he looked down at his hands, eyes widening as he noticed the now chameleon-like skin he now possessed.

'Good one Remus', Kingsley said appreciatively as Harry marvelled at the new properties of his skin… _this was so cool._

'Clear night,' grunted Moody as he examined the sky, his magical eye spinning around as it scanned the clouds. 'Could've done with a bit more cloud cover. Right, you,' he barked at Harry, 'we're going to be flying in close formation-' He was cut off as a shower of bright sparks flared in the sky and all eyes turned upwards.

'What's-'

'That's the first signal,' Kingsley cut off Harry, 'we were delayed Moody, let's get going now.' He turned to Harry and quickly summarized the rest of the plan. 'Follow us.'

Nice and simple; Harry liked it.

Green sparks exploded in the air and everyone pushed up, the air whooshing by his face as Harry grinned. The ride passed in a blur as Harry flew, moving every now and then as Moody yelled about muggles, but it _was_ wonderful. The place in which they landed however, was anything but.

Harry looked around confused at the grimy neighbourhood in which they landed. To the right of him a streetlight flickered on and off before the bulb burst, bathing the street in darkness.

 _They were all going to die, w_ as the first thought that ran through Harry's head as every horror cliché ever ran through his head as they all stood in the dark street.

'Read this quickly and memorize,' Moody shoved a piece of parchment in front of him, knocking Harry out of his thoughts as he squinted down at the parchment.

 _The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London._

'The Order? This is what Mrs Figg -?' Harry began before he was hurriedly shushed as Moody snatched the parchment back and set fire to it.

'Think about it,' Remus muttered and Harry decided to humour them, squinting at the houses opposite.

 _There was no number twelve Grimmauld Place._

Good going Harry you're standing on a dark street surrounded by people who may or may not be Death Eaters, trying to enter a house that clearly did not exist-His train of thought was abruptly cut off as another house began to emerge from between number eleven and thirteen; looking as though it was inflating like some type of giant bouncy castle being pumped full of air.

'I'm not the only one who saw that right?' Harry turned to the rest of them who seemed perfectly calm at the fact that a house appeared out of nowhere. ''Cause that was fucking-'

'In,' Moody grunted as he pushed Harry forward, ignoring the scowl and muttered obscenities that burst from Harry's mouth as he tripped upon entering.

'Here Harry,' Remus tapped the top of his head with his wand and Harry watched as his skin became normal again, losing it's Chameleon camouflage properties.

' _Lumos_ ,' Kingsley muttered and Harry blinked at the sudden appearance of light before his jaw dropped as he looked around. This settled it. He was in some kind of fucking horror movie.

 _THERE ARE HOUSE ELF HEADS ALL OVER THE WALLS._

'The fuck are we?!' Harry burst out, looking at them all accusingly. 'What-'

'Harry dear!' Harry whirled around to see Mrs Weasley emerge from the end of the hall; looking rather frazzled as she caught him in a quick hug that Harry squirmed in uncomfortably. 'You're looking peaky; you need feeding up, but you'll have to wait a bit for dinner, I'm afraid.'

She turned to the group of people behind him and whispered urgently, 'He's just arrived, the meeting's started.'

Everyone behind him made various noises of interest and excitement and began to file in through the door that Mrs Weasley had just exited. Harry craned his neck as he watched them enter, moving towards the door to follow Remus when Mrs Weasley stopped him.

'No, Harry, the meeting's only for members of the Order-'

'The Order, the Order, the Order!' Harry snapped. 'You say that like I'm supposed to know what that means! Well surprise, surprise! For someone to understand what's going on, usually someone has to tell them first! It seems to be a concept that everyone has forgotten lately!'

Mrs Weasley, clearly not accustomed to back chat, fixed Harry with a stern look as she stood in place between him and the meeting.

'Ron and Hermione are upstairs-'

'And I thought this situation couldn't possible get any worse!' Harry snarled, his anger rising at the realisation that his _friends_ were sitting comfy a few metres or so away from him.

'-You can wait with them until the meeting is over,' she continued as though Harry had not loudly voice his opinion, an observation that made Harry's blood boil even more.

'WAIT WITH THEM?!' Mrs Weasley hurriedly shushed him, looking down the hall with wide eyes as Harry shook her off. 'NO! I'VE SPENT A MONTH WITH NO FUCKING NEWS! LIKE HELL YOU'RE NOT TELLING ME-'

Harry was cut off by ear splitting shrieks from down the hall as a set of curtains flew back, revealing a sallow faced ugly woman who began shrieking at the top of her lungs. Staring at the painting shocked, he barely registered as Remus ran past him, pulling the curtains shut with great difficulty, shutting her up.

' _Harry_ ,' Remus grabbed him by the shoulders and steered him away from a wide-eyed Mrs Weasley. 'I'll talk to you after this meeting,' he looked at Harry sternly, 'I promise that Sirius and I _will_ talk to you after about everything that's been going on,' Harry shoulders slumped as he nodded and Remus gave him a strained smile in return. 'Right now I have to have a word with Dumbledore about your _living arrangements._ '

The only time he had heard Remus speak with such venom in his voice had been when he was confronting Peter in the Shrieking Shack; the barely concealed rage on his face did nothing to reassure Harry as he left, shutting the door behind him.

 _Fucking fantastic._

He was exactly back at where he was before and was nowhere closer to finding out any information about Voldemort, the Death Eaters, the Order and whatever the fuck his friends had been doing all summer. After listening with his ear at the door for several minutes Harry came to the frustrating conclusion that yes there was a silencing charm on the door, and that yes it was not likely to wear off any time soon. He looked up stairs apprehensively, simultaneously dreading and longing to rip into his friends about his treatment before he looked towards the front door. He supposed he could just leave after all, maybe teach them a lesson and have them run around trying to find him.

In the end his desire to learn any new information won out and he ascended the stairs intent on finding Ron and Hermione and demanding answers. He had just knocked on the first door he came to on the second floor when it was roughly pulled open as Harry staggered back. Hermione had thrown herself on him in a hug that nearly knocked him out flat, while Ron's tiny owl, Pigwidgeon, zoomed excitedly round and round and round their heads.

'HARRY! Ron, he's here, Harry's here! Oh, how _are_ you?' - _How am I?! - '_ Are you all right? Have you been furious with us? I bet you have,' - _Understatement of the fucking century! -_ 'I know our letters were useless -' - _A round of applause for Hermione, the brightest witch of our age! -_ '-But we couldn't tell you anything. Dumbledore made us swear we wouldn't tell you anything!'

A feeling akin to ice ran through his body as he ran that sentence over in his mind, " _Dumbledore made us swear we wouldn't tell you anything."_

'Let him breathe, Hermione,' said Ron, grinning as he pried her off him.

'We heard about what you did as well,' Hermione fixed him with a stern look, 'Really Harry? Putting a bounty on Peter Pettigrew was so-'

'Immature? Reckless? Brash? Stupid?' Harry suggested sarcastically as his temper rose higher.

'It _was_ reckless.'

'Maybe I wouldn't have been so reckless if I'd had some news once and a while-'

'We couldn't tell Harry!' Hermione interrupted him, 'Dumbledore-'

'I spent a month- _a month -_ wondering about what the hell was going on about Voldemort. Trying to find any information if anyone was doing a damn thing because the Prophet sure as hell wasn't!'

'We know mate,' Ron spoke up hurriedly, 'Bill mentioned it when he came back from watch, said you were going crazy there.'

His rage was overtaken by a cold numbness when he realized that Ron had just confirmed one of his suspicions. _Everyone had known._

'I don't want to speak with you,' Harry said quietly, looking away from them both.

'Harry-,' he shrugged off Hermione's hand and tried to find a way to formulate into words all the anger, bitterness, disappointment and hopelessness that he had been subjected to over the past month.

'Mate, we wanted to tell you -,' Ron began but he turned away from them both and Hermione frantically followed him into the hall, her voice thick with emotion as she looked at him tearfully.

'Harry, we're really sorry,' she said desperately, 'We wanted to tell you!'

'Then why didn't you?' Harry rounded on her angrily, taking grim satisfaction in the way she flinched as he glared at her, shooting a murderous look at Ron who was observing the exchange with an open mouth from the door way.

'Dumbledore made us promise!'

Harry looked away and shook his head as he suddenly laughed, clapping his hands together. It always came back to Dumbledore; he told them to leave him isolated, he told people to watch him, he told Harry to stay at Privet Drive…it was amazing just how much Dumbledore told people without telling them _anything_ at all. His attention was brought back to Hermione and Ron who were looking at him apprehensively as his laughs died down.

'Are you or are you not a witch Hermione?'

'I, what?' She seemed taken aback by the question and shot a confused, frightful look at Ron who shrugged back at her.

'Are you or are you not a witch Hermione?' Harry repeated patiently.

'Yes-'

'Then did you even imagine the possibility of using some type of magic to communicate with me?'

'I'd thought about it,' she admitted thickly as she sniffled, 'but Dumbledore-'

'But Dumbledore!' Harry cried out sarcastically, 'It seems you can tack that onto any sentence and suddenly it becomes a viable excuse for acting like a dick! Guess what guys, I decided to completely neglect my friend whose been in constant emotional distress since he witnessed the MURDER OF ANOTHER FRIEND _but Dumbledore_ said it was all right!'

'I didn't know how Harry!' Hermione burst out, 'I couldn't come up with any ways to contact you!' Tears were streaming down her face and Harry swallowed tightly as his throat constricted, watching as he made one of his best friends cry. Something wrenched painfully in his chest as he turned away from her.

'No Hermione, you just didn't try,' Harry said simply before he left, walking as far away from them as he could.

After an entire month of hoping to see his friends again he suddenly wished that he had never seen them at all, at least then he could still pretend that maybe things were not as bad as they really were. But now he'd been forced to face it and had possibly just broken up their friendship for good; Hermione and Ron would never survive as friends on their own, third year had been proof enough, with Harry being forced to play the mediator in every single argument they ever held, even when the argument was about him himself.

The sound of small explosion drew Harry's attention away from his rampaging emotions as he walked further down the hall, stopping outside a door that had bright orange smoke seeping through the cracks. Knocking rather hesitantly, he was surprised when a second later the door was thrown open and he peered in the smoke filled room. As soon as he entered the room a party popper went off in his face, making him blink in surprise as streamers and glitter flew around him.

'Potter!' Fred and George both chimed at the same time, beaming as they tugged him in.

'There he is-' Fred began, letting loose several fireworks that exploded around Harry.

'The man of the hour-' George continued, shoving a glass of what Harry believed was firewhisky into his hand.

'Of the century-'

'Of the decade-'

'Pretty sure a century is longer Gred,'

'Fair point Forge-' George nodded as Harry downed the drink, hoping it would help him make sense of whatever was going on at the moment.

'Harry,' Fred continued, holding an imaginary microphone in front of him. 'How does it feel to have completely toppled the ministry within a day?'

'I-what?' Harry looked at them both in shock, _what the hell where they talking about?_

'You posting that bounty Potter!' Fred looked at him as though he was crazy.

'Made the whole country go crazy-' George continued looking rather impressed.

'Well more then it was already-'

'But we digress Harry, it seems you had no knowledge of this?'

'I haven't had any knowledge all summer,' Harry replied rather coolly before looking at them apologetically. Fred and George, while their letters had not been informative, had always been amusing and they seemed to take great strides in keeping him distracted from that fact. Not every second sentence was " _Dumbledore said!"_ or " _I'll tell you when you get here!"_ Which was a great deal more then he could say for his _best friends._ Wrenching his thoughts away from _that_ particular issue he suddenly paused.

 _They mentioned my bounty._

'Say that again,' he turned to them breathlessly, suddenly feeling rather woozy (from the alcohol or what Fred said he couldn't tell) as he ran that statement over and over in his head.

'But we digress Harry,' the both chimed at the same time, 'it seems you had no knowledge of this?'

'Not that part!' Harry snapped, looking at them both frantically. 'You mentioned the bounty – _My Bounty –_ Did it work?'

'If you intended chaos-' Fred said amused, grinning at George as they both finished at the same time. 'Then yes!'

He looked at them shocked for a moment before he burst out laughing and tackled them both in a hug.

 _He had done something!_

'Have they caught him?' He continued eagerly, his excitement falling slightly as they shook their heads.

'Not yet mate,' George replied though he was still grinning. 'But they probably will soon, the whole country's searching for him.'

Any further questions were interrupted by a high pitched squealing noise from the cauldron behind them; with Fred hurriedly getting up, cursing as he waved his wand frantically over the smoking liquid waving George over.

'What is that?' Harry asked, his curiosity winning over his desire to interrogate them both for every bit of information they knew.

' _This_ Harry, is your investment!' George answered, pulling out a small box and throwing it to him.

'Puking Pastilles?'

'He sounds so confused Forge!' George laughed as Harry looked at him perplexed.

'Allow me to explain,' Fred grinned as he sat next to him, pulling one out. 'So say you want to get out of potions-'

'Completely understandable, Snape being the greasy git he is-' George chimed in, from where he was stirring a thick orange liquid.

'This little thing here is the answer to all your prayers!' Fred beamed at the little sweet and Harry looked at him incredulously.

'What'll it do? Poison Snape?' Harry asked, looking at the sweet with a renewed interest.

'While I admire the forwardness of your idea-'

'And believe me we have tried-' George piped in.

'Third year-'

'It was not pretty-'

'Got a very nasty howler for that incident – but you're distracting us Harry!' Fred reprimanded him as he shoved one of them into his hands. 'So you eat one end and voila! You end up decorating the dungeon floor in a magical liquid entirely of your own creation!'

'But it'll make you sick,' Harry pointed out the obvious flaw as they both laughed.

'The trick to _our_ sweets Harry is that one end makes you sick-' George grinned.

'While the other makes you feel better!' Fred finished as Harry looked at the little sweet in awe.

'That's brilliant,' was all Harry could manage. Because really, that was the most ingenious idea he'd ever heard of. He was just about to interrogate them again when George suddenly stood up, looking closely at his watch.

'It's eight-thirty Fred,' said George, looking over at his twin.

Fred went over to his bed and pulled out - to Harry's immense surprise - a copy of "Hogwarts: A History". He winked at Harry, waving him over as he opened the cover to reveal a hollowed out shell that contained a mesh of long flesh-like objects attached to ears. He shot an alarmed look at them both and they waved off his concerns as they shoved one – _this was so gross_ – into his hands, tugging him out onto the landing as they peered over the bannister.

'They usually finish the meetings around now,' George explained as he helped Harry hook one of the ears onto his own. 'Usually get a bit lax too, unless if Dumbledore does the charms then it's unlikely that it holds for the whole meeting.'

'This is how we've been getting our info, or more realistically _fragments_ of our info,' Fred gestured to the ear that was attached to their ears. 'Extendable Ears…They are exactly what the name implies, no more no less!'

'You kept them in a hollowed out copy of "Hogwarts: A History"?' Harry asked amused as they carefully lowered them to the door.

'Mum keeps on confiscating them,' Fred rolled his eyes before shrugging at George. 'It was his idea.'

' _Who would dare desecrate "Hogwarts: A History"!_ ' George mimicked in a high voice that made Harry laugh. He was suddenly shushed as fragments of conversations began streaming through the cords.

'…Not everything! Surely it can wait-'

'It's not…decision to make is it?'

'…Checking the manors now, Bones wants him found-'

'Lucius…where will he stay?'

'Cannot say….under protection.'

Harry grunted as he heard Fred and George both give frustrated sighs at the jumble of sentences that assaulted their ears.

'They're talking about Bones again,' George said

'Whose Bones?' Harry asked, the mental image of some type of wizard pirate coming to mind.

'Director of the DMLE,' Fred answered, 'she's been pushing to find Pettigrew, set Kingsley on his case'.

Everyone suddenly jumped as the door flew open and they hurriedly yanked the cords up as people began exiting.

'Hear anything interesting?' Harry turned to see Ginny walking towards them, looking over the bannister with interest as she waved goodbye to Hestia.

'No more _interesting_ then usual,' Fred said glumly as he and George gathered up the cords and popped out of sight, making Harry look at Ginny alarmed.

'They just got their apparition licences,' Ginny supplied, not meeting Harry's eyes, as she continued looking over at the mass of people congregated beneath them. 'They've been doing it all summer, it drives mum mad.'

Harry snorted at the mental image of them both popping up in thin air everywhere before he turned to look at Ginny with surprise. That had to be the longest conversation they had ever had. Well, a conversation that was not related to either a giant killer snake or a possessed diary. He was about to comment on this new development when a familiar flash of greasy hair and a dark cloak caught his attention.

'Why is Snape here?!' He asked alarmed, looking to Ginny. 'He's a Death Eater!'

'He's a spy for the Order,' Ginny answered, glaring at the man as he exited the building.

'HE'S A WHAT?!'

'HARRY!' A voice yelled up and Harry leant over the bannister to see a face he had been longing to see all summer.

'SIRIUS!'

'WELL FUCKING DONE HARRY!' His godfather beamed at him as he ran up the steps. 'WELL FUCKING DONE!'

Harry was barely aware of the fact that the portrait had begun screaming again, or that Mrs Weasley's own screams had joined in the noise, all he was aware of was the fact that he was finally with Sirius.

He was finally home.

* * *

A/N- So there's part one of Harry yells at people!

I really didn't want to skimp on this moment, because this is a pivotal point where Harry will not only learn that he made a big difference, but he starts to change his mindset into someone who acts for himself, rather then waiting for Dumbledore or Voldemort to move. Dumbledore as a mentor figure is suddenly coming off his pedestal and losing a lot of respect from not only Harry but a lot of other people.

I didn't want to summarize Harry's anger as simple as "Harry yelled and left the room". He's been under immense emotional pressure and is finally venting, and the backlash of his actions is going to cause a strain amongst his relationships like it did Ron and Hermione.

So in part 2 Harry get's the full low down on the entire situation and deals with everyone else's opinions and yells more and we'll head back to see how some other people are doing and it'll be a lot more fun then this chapter was…in my opinion anyway. It was a bit of a drag to write...but I hope you all like it anyway :)

Also I don't imagine that anyone in their right mind would willingly ignore the fact that Harry has bolts and a cat flap on his door, especially Remus. In the books Tonks goes upstairs to help him pack and she's the only one to see his room, and to her credit she's quite distracted and never actually see's his door bolted shut or anything. But still the fact that Harry lives in such obviously abusive conditions and no one notices is incredibly disturbing to me.

That's the end of my notes (theses chapters are getting progressively longer :P) and I'll post the next part in the next few days!

Thanks for reading!


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